Don't be Afraid of the Dark
by Lordoftheghostking28
Summary: Shadow has been framed. Someone has been killing innocents...hundreds of them. GUN has finally caught the Ultimate Life Form, but will they realize their mistake? Will the real culprit be captured, before the whole of GUN is corrupted?
1. Prologue: Is this the end?

** Do I really need another FanFiction to be written? Probably not. But this idea simply stuck…I couldn't let it pass. Original title for this was ****The Pretender****, but this title seemed more…**_**evil**_**. And totally awesome. Anyway, those of you who are fans of my Maximum Ride and Sonic crossover…don't worry. I'm still working on it, I'm just getting this prologue thingy out there so I can pull readers in for this story.**

** RATED M mostly for blood, gore and horror.**

** PROLOGUE**

The military helicopter touched down in a whirling of blades. Shortly afterwards a group of heavily armed soldiers exited, not even waiting for the rotors to stop completely. A crowd was gathered; a mixed group of ordinary citizens and higher personnel. A little ways away from the landing pad, a reporter was busy explaining the scene.

"This is Andrea Huston, reporting live from Westopolis' military base. As you can see behind me, this is a bittersweet moment for many people. Allow me to explain." She brushed a few strands of blonde-dyed hair away from her face. "Being escorted into the high security cell until further notice is Shadow the Hedgehog. Wanted for many crimes, including murder and mutilation. My condolences go out to the families that have suffered losses."

From the helicopter came a dark, beaten form. Thick handcuffs were wrapped securely around Shadow's wrists, two more sets of cuffs chaining him to two other soldiers. Same for his ankles. Another soldier was holding a chain that was wrapped tightly around his neck. Three other soldiers holding high-powered rifles followed. The group walked slowly down the small pathway paved for them by the people standing and watching silently, a soldier occasionally digging the butt of his gun into Shadow's back.

"Shadow was brought down nearby Emerald Town. No word yet of why he was there, but a rumor has been going around that he is destined to live the rest of his days at Prison Island." Andrea continued, staring straight into the reporter's camera. "Until then he's staying here. More information shortly."

"That's a wrap." The cameraman decided, shutting the device off and packing it into the van. "Let's get out of here."

Andrea cast one last look at Shadow and the soldiers as they entered the building. She climbed into the van and they sped off. News was bound to be happening on a more happier note somewhere. Anywhere was better than here.

Shadow caught the last glance of the reporter van before it sped away. The woman reporting was too artificial… plastic surgery that left more plastic than skin. Her eyes were too bright. It was unnerving. Luckily the thought of her was driven out of his mind as the soldier behind him dug his gun into his shoulder blades. Shadow was forced onto his knees.

"Not so tough now, are you?" The soldier sneered. "You've killed so many people…you deserve every bit of this."

He slammed his gun into Shadow's temple, knocking him into the wall where his head struck the wall. He slumped to the ground, suspended by the cuffs chaining him to the two other soldiers.

The soldiers laughed cruelly, dragging him back to his feet and forcing him down the hall, into a thick steel door…and down towards the unknown in complete darkness. Shadow could barely see; the world was turning and twisting and the stairway seemed too long…then too short…then too wide…

One of the soldiers opened a blank door and bright, blaring light poured out of the room. They entered, another of the soldiers speaking up. "Here he is."

"Good, good. He's p-perfect." A terrifyingly soft, stuttering voice said.

Shadow blinked hard three times, but all the features in the room blended together…the colors were nothing but white. Someone was freeing his wrists and ankles from the cuffs. This was his chance.

Shadow stumbled blindly towards the door, but was quickly stopped by another hard jab in the back, sending him sprawling flat on his stomach. A gun's muzzle was pressed into his back. "Don't try anything." A soldier commanded.

"What should we tell the public?" Someone wondered out loud.

"S-stick with the Prison Island story. We have him shipped off there…say in a couple of weeks. Th-then we dismiss the case and say he's never going to harm another soul a-again." The stuttering voice said.

"When in reality…" The soldier laughed coldly.

"I'll s-send the Commander the results. Until then, I can t-take him from here." Strong arms pulled Shadow to his feet and forced him onto something hard.

More cuffs were secured over his wrists and ankles…but these were stationary. He was held down on something…Shadow managed to squint and make out the blinding circle of lights above his head…much like the ones commonly found in operating rooms…

A figure swam into view. A figure holding a sharp knife that was glinting dangerously. Shadow could do nothing but scream as the blade sank into his chest.

**XxXxXxXx**

** Chills go down your spine? Unless you're in some warm place, like me….dumb weather…**

** Ok, yeah, reviews are appreciated, but not flames. Flame me and I release Iblis. **

** Hasta la Vista, Readers…**

** Lordoftheghostking28 **

** PS: Updates will come whenever I feel like it. So basically every…two weeks? Even I dunno.**


	2. Chapter 1: War!

**CHAPTER 1, War!**

**Hey, people! Remember to review, por favor!**

"Got my back?"

"I'm right here, relax."

"They're right over there, you know."

"I can see them!"

"Good, cover me."

"What? That's suicide!"

"Would you rather run out there?"

"There's ten people, one of which has a bazooka! Of course not I'm just running out there-"

"Ok, then. Cover me."

"Sonic! You are an idiot!"

"At least I'm not a coward! Oh, by the way, watch out for that guy over there, Silver…"

"HOLY CRAP!" Silver unloaded his pistol into the oncoming soldier's head. His dead opponent slumped to the ground, blood pooling around his body.

"Nice save. Here we go…" Sonic ran out into the midst of battle.

"Wait, they've got backup!" Silver shouted.

"Oh, no! No wonder there's only ten guards!" Sonic turned, but was quickly gunned down. "Aaack! Get out of here, Silver! Save yourself!"

"But I can't leave you!"

"You two are a duo of drama queens," Knuckles sighed, turning the TV volume down halfway. The sounds of the war game ceased almost entirely, except for the shouts of Sonic's dying character.

"We're in the moment, man! Don't distract us!" Sonic growled, respawning at their base's spawn unit. He picked up a rifle and darted out into the onslaught again, yelling into his headset, "Blaze, get your people around to meet us!"

Knuckles just sighed and turned his attention on the two gamers, who were more interesting than what was happening on-screen. Their expressions were downright hilarious.

"I'VE GOT THEIR FLAG! I'VE GOT THEIR FLAG! I'VE-never mind," Silver growled as he retrieved the opposite team's flag and was then brought down by a grenade.

"Nice try." Sonic muttered, shooting randomly into the battle.

Silver tapped the side of his headset. "Um…hey, Tails, know where Shadow is? He wasn't online today…or the many weeks before this."

"Oh, so now you've got _Tails_ playing this?" Knuckles demanded.

"Yeah. He's the best player." Sonic pointed to the screen, where a guy in camouflage was lying out bombs. "Strategy and defense specialist. All of us guys are just there to be sacrificed. And to find him weapons."

"You should play, Knuckles." Silver said. "We have our own team on here…whenever we're online together we team up and ambush the other guys. It's awesome!"

The bomb lying out guy was now shooting, luring a tank into the trap. With a loud explosion and a burst of flame, the tank was sent sky-high. Sonic and Silver cheered.

"Now _that_ was an awesome explosion!"

"Do it again!"

"Oh, look there! Rouge's online too!" Sonic pointed to a character dressed in dark purple holding what appeared to be an armload of grenades. "She bombs people like an expert. Blaze, can you patch me through to her?"

Knuckles grabbed the last remote. "Let me in on this. I'll win for you."

**XxXxXxXx**

"I've never seen anything like that before…" Sonic said.

"Me neither. At least we won." Silver said back.

"Barely."

"But we won."

"I didn't know Eggman played this game too."

"I didn't know he was actually _good_…"

"Man, that was intense battle."

"Tell me about it."

"Why don't you FaceBook it, then?" Knuckles rolled his eyes.

"Hey, yeah!"

So while they were doing that, Knuckles disconnected the X-Box and switched to cable to see if anything worth watching was on.

A 'breaking news' bulletin caught his eye.

"I THINK YOU TWO SHOULD SEE THIS!"

Sonic and Silver were over in a flash, staring wide-eyed at the screen. The scene on the screen was only a slight distance down the road…the small prison of the county. But it was who was being brought to the high-security doors that made them worry.

"That's…that's Shadow!" Silver stuttered.

"What happened?" Sonic demanded.

"They caught him a little ways out from Emerald Town." Knuckles said. "But…I don't understand it. The charges he's accused with are outrageous! Twenty plus charges of death and mutilation… it sounds like that's right out of the game you two were playing."

"That's kinda what's so scary about this." Silver whispered. "Shadow never did anything like that…did he? I mean…"

"Not that I remember." Sonic answered. "Something doesn't seem right."

"_Really_," Knuckles said sarcastically.

"Maybe Rouge knows something. She is a spy, after all. But something tells me this is serious; and sort of out of her department."

"Worth a try, anyway." Silver picked up the phone.

**XxXxXxXx**

"I don't understand this either. And the president of my group won't tell me anything."

Sonic, Silver and Knuckles sighed heavily. "I guess that means we have to head over there for ourselves and get to the bottom of this." Sonic muttered.

"That's the best we can do right now." Rouge admitted, shrugging. "Later I can see if I can hack into the computer at base…see if I can find anything at all on this."

"All the help we can get will be greatly appreciated." Silver promised. "Until then we're investigating Emerald Town….asking people stuff…you know."

"Very specific." Rouge sighed. "Good luck, anyway."

She flew away, leaving the other three to decide what to do.

"See you slowpokes in about an hour," Sonic ran off.

**XxXxXxXx**

"To tell you the truth, I haven't heard a word of this until it got onto TV," The citizen scratched his head. "Sorry…"

"It's ok." Silver shrugged. "I just want to hear the full story. It didn't say anything really on the news; just that Shadow had been captured outside your town."

"Exacally what I heard," The man turned and left, entering into a small café. Silver was left standing nearby a bench, sort of frustrated. No one had been able to tell him anything else about Shadow's capture…even the people that lived on the outskirts of Emerald Town. In fact, a few of them didn't even know what he was talking about.

"Any luck?" Knuckles came up behind him.

"No…you?"

"Nothing. Just a few people saw a few military helicopters. Nothing out of the ordinary. Where's Sonic?"

"No clue. Maybe he found something."

The two of them began wondering the town, finally stumbling on their friend who was standing and staring into an ice cream shop.

"Do you see that?" Sonic demanded.

"What? A new flavor?" Silver asked.

"No, on the TV in there!"

"Shit! Get in, I've got to hear this!" Knuckles pushed them both into the shop, where they quickly claimed a table and stared intensively at the TV.

"How much of this did we miss?" Silver asked.

"No clue. Be quiet!"

The subtitles were quickly scrolling across the screen, and that was the only reason they were able to keep up with what was going on. Another report was being filed on Shadow's case, saying ten more people had turned up dead with complete evidence he had murdered them. Ten ordinary people…

"This is messed up." Sonic sighed.

"They're taking him to Prison Island in a few weeks, I think," Silver whispered. "But why him? Why is someone framing him like this? Is it intentional? Accidental? What the heck is really going on here? Is this all just a mistake? Is this…"

"Be quiet!" Sonic and Knuckles hissed.

But the news bulletin had passed, going on to the latest news about a break-in. Knuckles stood and headed for the door. "Come on. We've got work to do."

**XxXxXxXx**

"Anything?"

An explosion of gunfire.

"No, sorry. The computer's blocked…and coded. It's beyond my abilities. I really wish there was something else I could do, but-"

"Rouge, We've literally spent all day asking around about the news clip. No one can confirm it. It's as though it never happened in Emerald Town, which means GUN just found Shadow and used these murders as an excuse to capture him." Sonic tapped his headset. "Besides…this whole thing is really scaring me. If Shadow didn't do these murders, then who did?"

"I don't know."

"Then we're getting nowhere."

Sonic played the war game for a few minuets. Rouge did the same. Finally the silence was broken as a new voice came over the headset.

"What if we talk to Shadow? I mean…they'll probably let us see him."

"The only probablem with that is they say he's a murderer and they would want nothing more than our safety when in reality he's not the real threat. Sorry, Tails." Sonic sighed.

"That's actually not a bad idea." Rouge said thoughtfully. "We'll head over there in a week; I've got an assignment from GUN until then. And if they refuse us I can get us in."

"Great. I don't know about you, but this game isn't the same without him."

**And so the search begins. What will they find? This chapter isn't exacally M-ish, but the later ones will be…*Shudders in horror yet to come* This chap was more 'comic relief'. Because horror and humor for me are like bread and butter. Can't write stories without one or the other.**

**And I like Halo. **

**Reviews are appreciated! Until next time:**

**Hasta la Vista, Readers!**

**Lordoftheghostking28**

**XxXxXxXx**


	3. Chapter 2: Plans

** CHAPTER 2**

Sonic, Silver, Tails, Knuckles and Rogue were standing on a small hill overlooking the prison, trying to think of what to say to the many guards. One wrong move and their search for answers would come to a close.

And so, with a terrible plan in mind, they approached the terrifying building.

"What do you want?" A bored-looking soldier asked, sitting outside the main doors in a lawn chair with a rifle across his lap. "This isn't open for the public. We've got dangerous criminals here."

"What do you know about Shadow the Hedgehog?" Rouge demanded.

The guard scratched his head. "I know that he murdered lots of innocents and he's somewhere inside these walls," He jerked a thumb at the prison. "But everyone knows that."

"Exacally. We're hoping you can tell us a little more about where you found him." Silver piped up.

"That's classified, I'm afraid."

"Even from me?" Rouge held up an identity card while giving the guard a glare.

"Yep. Sorry."

The group stood, not exacally sure what to do. Then Tails started crying, tears matting his fur down.

"What's the matter?" The guard asked, looking a bit guilty.

"Sir…it's just…It's just…" He hiccupped. "Shadow killed my mother. I just want to confirm that he's…that he's really behind bars for good now!"

He continued the sob, Sonic getting into the act. "It's all right, little buddy. If the guard says he's locked up, then he's locked up. I guess we'll just get our news somewhere else…"

"Hold on a minuet," The guard muttered. "I suppose I can get you inside, But just for a few minuets. I'm already breaking regulation by talking to you this long. Sorry, kid…It's just that I knew people who were killed by him also…I feel safer now with him locked away."

The guard stood, unlocking the doors with a key. Tails turned to Sonic and whispered, "Now I feel a little guilty,"

"Hey, we had to do something…" Sonic shrugged.

"This way." The guard motioned.

They walked down a very dimly lit hallway, coming at a stop at what appeared to be a receptionist's desk built behind a pane of thick glass. The walls behind the glass and desk were old; and in a few places looked as though someone had taken a gun and shot everything they had at it.

Sitting behind the desk was a Mobian Guinea Pig. Her fur was white except for around her face, a single black band surrounding her dark eyes. She wore a GUN uniform, tailored for her height. Just by looking at her, the group knew she was tall. She looked up as the group approached.

"What're they doing here?" she demanded.

"This one here claims his mother was killed by Shadow. He wants to confirm with his own eyes that he really is locked up." The guard said.

"What part of 'top-secret, high security prison' do you not understand, Matthew?" The Guinea Pig shouted. "We can't just be bringing in people off the streets!"

"Bandit, I saw someone killed by him with my own eyes." The guard hissed.

"That doesn't mean you just take people in here-"

"This way." The guard pointed to the left.

Bandit's yelling faded off as they entered into a thick steel door. Beyond that point, there were two ways to go. Down, or straight. The guard continued on straight.

"What's down there?" Silver asked, staring down into the blackness.

"Probably something terrible. These last couple of days; down there's all anyone's talking about." The guard continued on. "Coming?"

Knuckles' shoe hit him upside the head, making him lose his balance and crash into the wall. Silver slammed his fist into the guard's forehead, snapping his head back. He didn't move.

"He's not dead, is he?" Tails asked softly.

"No. But we don't have much time. Tails; you, Rouge and Knuckles go that way. Silver and I'll go down. Be alert." Sonic said.

"Can I not go down there?" Silver squeaked, casting a look down into the darkness. "Can Knuckles go instead?"

"Oh, HELL NO." Knuckles growled.

"If you find any prisoners, ask them about what they may know. Something about this whole story is very suspicious…I wouldn't believe a word if they didn't have live footage," Sonic started down the steps. "Come on, Silver. Do I need to hold your hand?"

"Shut up," Silver hissed. "Let's go."

The two of them headed down the foreboding staircase while the others continued along on the same floor.

"What do you think we'll find?" Tails asked.

"Hopefully some answers or a good explanation. Possibly both, but I doubt it," Rouge muttered.

Rows of doors appeared along the halls; pure white doors looking very out of place set into the old, darkened walls. Many of the doors had small windows set at about human height, but they were tinted and kept the light from inside from spilling out. Rouge knocked on the first door and loud wailing pierced the quiet.

Tails jumped. "Who's that?"

"Someone not quite right in the head." Knuckles pointed to the small note taped to the door handle. " 'Mentally insane.'"

"Maybe we're on the right track." Rouge stepped away from the door and the screaming stopped, like whoever was in there knew the visitor had left. The second door was also labeled 'Mentally insane', so they voted to skip that one.

But the third was different.

" 'Spy'?" Knuckles asked out loud. "I wonder who this could be."

"Hello? Hello, is anyone out there? Can you hear me?" A muffled female voice called. "Let me out! This is madness! I didn't do anything! I know you've probably heard that a thousand times, but this is true!"

"You're a spy?" Rouge asked clearly in the loudest voice she dared.

"Yeah…sort of. A spy for the sane part of GUN. But the insane people found out about me and locked me away in here. Who're you? I haven't heard your voice before. Are you new here? If so, get out!"

"I'm Rouge the Bat. I'm also a spy."

"Yeah, right. Rouge was killed. Don't taunt me."

"What do you mean, killed?" Knuckles asked.

"Killed, as in d-e-a-d. Dead. Don't play dumb."

"How was she killed?" Tails piped up.

"The insane GUN members caught her and I think shot her. But I'm not sure. I've also heard she was drowned. And clubbed to death. And something else not very morally right."

"What's your name?" Rouge asked.

"I'm Ginny the Guinea Pig. Just call me Ginny. So what's your real name?"

"I told you, I'm Rouge." Rouge sighed. "And with me is Tails the Fox and Knuckles the Echidna. Have you heard anything about Shadow the Hedgehog? He was supposedly brought here a week ago."

"Oh, yeah. He was also working for the sane part of GUN…until the other guys caught him. I managed to overhear some of their conversations, and his fate doesn't sound that good. You see, in the basement here there's a 'rehabilitation unit' that's more commonly known as the 'torture chamber'. Last I heard, he was brought down there for 'treatment'."

** XxXxXxXx **

"This place is giving me the creeps." Silver whispered, his quiet voice magnified by the cold, stone walls. This basement was new compared to the rest of the building, adding to the mystery of the place.

"I'm glad I'm not psychic, then." Sonic muttered.

"At least I glow." Silver held up his hands, where the faint glow of his aura pulsed. "So you can see me."

"As can the security cameras."

Silver stopped and whimpered for a few seconds before Sonic kicked him in the kneecap to make him get a move on. The two of them kept going down the darkened stairs until Sonic's foot connected solidly with the ground. "All right, we've reached the bottom,"

"Finally." Silver said hoarsely.

Down at the bottom was even worse than going down the staircase. Not a pinprick of light shone from the darkness. Silver found the wall and they followed that down deeper into the interior of the prison, ready for anything.

"I'm seriously regretting watching all those horror movies over the years." Silver growled. "And reading all those horror novels and playing all those Sci-Fi games. I'm ready for something to jump out at me and take my head off at any second."

"Same," Sonic agreed. "So let's just focus on the situation at hand."

That was when the unearthly, strangled sound rose from in front of them. It sounded like a rough choke combined with a strangled scream of the dead. It only lasted for about thirty seconds, but it was long enough to chill both hedgehogs to the bone.

"What…the…_hell_…was…that?" Sonic whispered.

"Exacally that. Hell," Silver answered. "This place has lead us straight to Hell."

"Good guess, but Hell is more merciful." A cold, unknown voice answered.

** All right…just for clarification: Ginny and Bandit are my two pets in real life, both girl Guinea Pigs who I love a lot :D and they're awesome so they're now in my story because I wanted them to be in this. Don't worry, minimal OCs. **

** So what do you think? Remember, that REVIEW button is right there…And who do you think the cold, mysterious voice is? (HINT: not an OC) What's going on with GUN? Find out in the next chapters!**

** XxXxXxXx**


	4. Chapter 3: The Torture Chamber

** CHAPTER 3**

** Ok, it starts to get M-ish here…just a warning…**

Five minuets and ten punches later, Ginny's cell door had been broken open and she now stood in front of the others. "Thanks. I want to run so bad…"

She had shiny black fur, except for a white streak that ran up the middle of her face and a small spot behind one ear. She wore a tight black suit, more for blending in with darkness than showing off curves. Her eyes were a dark brown, almost reddish. A small communicator was latched in her right ear, but it was shut off. "If I were you, I'd get out of here." She said, tapping the device that refused to turn on.

"We can't leave Shadow. And besides, we have others here trying to find him." Tails said.

"Then that's going to be a probablem," Ginny swiped her tongue over her sharp teeth. "All right, follow me. Don't stray." She ran down the hall, the others close behind.

They came to the stairway that lead deep down into the darkness, pausing for a few seconds.

"Just stay close. Don't worry, no one will bother attacking us. Many of the guards here are terrified of this place and the ones who work down here hardly stray from their 'treatment rooms'. Usually their 'patients' are too weak to try to escape." Ginny started heading down into the darkness before turning and saying, "It comes in handy to listen in on your captors' conversations sometimes. Oh, that guard you knocked out…he's coming to."

Rouge flew back up the stairs and the others heard a sharp _crack_ and a low moan before she came back. "Shouldn't be a probablem any more." She smiled.

The four of them made their way slowly down into the darkness, following the wall. They reached the ground and waited for Ginny to decide what to do.

"Just follow the wall. We'll reach somewhere eventually," She said lamely. "Look for a rectangle of light outlining a door. That'll be where we start."

They went straight for what seemed like forever until a faint yellow glow outlined a part of the wall. Ginny stooped down and in the darkness, slipped something out from one of her pockets. She pressed the unknown object into one side of the rectangle's light, slipping it into the room. The device in her hand glowed; she was holding some sort of illegal spying device.

The look on her face turned from shock to complete horror. She quickly deactivated the device, slipping it out from the door and into her pocket again.

"I'll just say that I'm glad Shadow wasn't in there." She whispered. "This side of GUN has gone completely off their rocker."

"What was in there?" Knuckles asked, dreading the answer.

"You don't want to know. I'll just say it was a long, slow and painful death by a madman."

** XxXxXxXx**

Silver lunged out at the darkness, connecting with nothing but the wall. Sonic too threw punches, but only succeeded in knocking Silver to the ground. The cold voice laughed, amused, and then faded off.

"What was that?" Silver gasped.

"It's...just something to keep intruders away. A security system." Sonic said, actually sounding more frightened than he felt. "There's no way someone can just blend in with the darkness, right?"

"Yeah…yeah, you're right." Silver agreed. "But still, that was really scary."

"Let's just-" Sonic was cut off as something hit him in the stomach, sending him crashing into the wall with a loud "Ooof!"

"Sonic?" Silver squeaked before something caught him in the jaw, sending him spinning to the ground.

"Wait! They're with us!" a voice said, this one scared and light, nothing like the evil one.

"Tails?" Sonic coughed.

"Oh, good! We thought you were lost!"

"Who hit me?" Silver demanded.

"My bad," A new voice muttered. "I'm Ginny. Don't worry, I'm on your side. Shadow could be in real danger."

"Tell me something I don't know." Sonic muttered.

"No, I mean _serious_ danger. If my suspicions are correct, he's in one of these rooms. This basement is nicked named the 'torture chamber' for reasons you might find out shortly. I just pray nothing serious has been done to your friend."

On that heavy note, a second of silence answered them.

"So come on." Ginny growled. "Follow my voice. We'll find him sooner or later."

They stumbled onto another glowing rectangle of light. Ginny set up her viewing screen, her eyes growing wide and scared. "Here's just an example of what might be happening."

"Tails, you probably shouldn't see this." Sonic muttered.

"I didn't want to in the first place." Tails said quietly.

The image on the screen was truly out of a horror movie. Sonic watched as the prisoner struggled against the bonds holding him to the table as someone in a white lab coat walked over, a thick knife in his hand that reminded Sonic of a butcher's blade. He shut his eyes and looked away as the screams echoed out of the room, so loud that it was almost like they were standing next to the victim.

"Come on," Ginny put the viewing screen away and they quickly hurried away from the door as the screams turned to blood-choked gurgles and then to nothing at all.

"Would they do that to Shadow?" Tails whispered.

"Kid, Shadow probably got ten times that." Ginny sighed. "Ten times that pain, but not death. Death would be too merciful."

Silence for minuets more. They approached another door, this one's light dulled around the edges. Ginny attached the camera, but even she couldn't figure out what was in the room.

"We'll have to go in." She decided. "Be ready for anything. When I say that, I mean it."

Much to their surprise, the door opened easily. The room inside was dimmed, almost like the twilight before the night. But even in the soft light, everyone could see the blood on the blades and equipment that lay scattered over a stone bloodstained operating table, metal restraints caked with red. The floor around it was also speckled with drops of blood, dried and stale. In one corner, a smashed beer bottle lay, broken shards littering the floor. The metallic smell in the air made the group gag.

"Who could have been put through this?" Rouge asked, trying to comfort a whimpering Tails. "Put though this and survived?"

"We're about to find out." Knuckles pointed in a corner, where a cell-like cage was standing. Something was lying limply in the corner, not moving other than the quick, irregular rising and falling of their chest.

The group cautiously approached. Rouge turned away with a choked gasp, taking Tails with her. It took everyone else a few seconds to realize who they were staring at.

Shadow looked as though he was run over and then ripped apart, patched together so horribly that his limbs were of no use anymore. Thick tubes and wires covered his body from a tall machine in the back of the cage. That was probably the only thing keeping him alive. His eyes were kept from opening by a long strip of duct-tape, wrapping around his head. Stitched up incisions covered his entire body, bloodstained and uncovered.

"What did they do to him?" Knuckles whispered.

"They made his life a living hell," Silver choked out, pointing to the broken bottle in the corner. "I think they cut him open and put glass in his wounds, stitching him back up again. Every movement he makes he'd be destroying himself."

"Oh, good Chaos…" Ginny hid her face in her black-gloved hands.

"We've got to get him out of here." Sonic gripped the cage's door and unlatched the multiple locks, opening it and dropping down by Shadow's side. "I've got a Chaos Emerald…but it won't teleport more than one of us."

Shadow's head twitched slightly, his lips parting and he only managed to whisper in a hoarse voice; a single choked word before becoming still again.

"…M…Maria…"

** XxXxXxXx**

** He WON'T die!**

** ….yet….**

** Muhahaha!**

** So until I update…remember that if I don't get lots of reviews, he will die!**

** Hasta la Vista, Readers…Muhahaha!**

** Lordoftheghostking28**

** XxXxXxXx**


	5. Chapter 4: Act Quickly

** CHAPTER 4**

"Where's the nearest hospital?" Knuckles asked. "We've got to work fast!"

"There's one in Emerald Town— I know because I saw it when we passed it—but it's a good walking distance away. Even if we did manage to escape from here, Shadow may not make it." Tails stuttered.

"It's our only chance." Rouge agreed.

"But if we move him…even an inch, there's no telling what damage we'd be doing." Ginny said.

Tails glanced around the lab of horrors as if looking for something. He apparently found it, because in the next few seconds he began a stockpile of random equipment of all shapes and sizes.

"What are you doing?" Silver asked.

"Hopefully making something that can boost the energy of the Chaos Emerald so we can teleport two people at once directly into the Emerald Town Hospital. But it's a long shot…It may not work."

"Don't stop believing," Sonic cast him a small smile.

Tails beamed, beginning to assemble and connect the various pieces of junk.

Shadow moved again, whispering phrases of broken sentences. Sonic made out his name and something that sounded eerily like "Kill".

"Hang on, Shadow. We're going to get you out of here."

"N…no…kill…pl…please…"

"We're not going to kill you. Who do you think we are?"

"…Sonic…kill…"

Sonic realized with a bolt of dread that Shadow wasn't begging for mercy…he was begging for death. How he was managing to stay conscious throughout all this misery was a mystery that was quickly solved as Sonic's eyes flicked to the machine beside him.

"What are you doing?" Ginny demanded as Sonic flipped the switch that would stop the device but keep the monitor going.

"Probably increasing our chances of getting Shadow somewhere alive." Sonic bit his lip, hoping he had done the right thing.

Within a few moments, Shadow stopped moving save the shallow risings and falling of his chest. Much to Sonic's surprise, most of his vitals stabled.

"Good Chaos, how long had he been like that?" Rouge stared down at her shoes.

"No clue. At least we stopped it." Silver sighed, turning towards where Tails was working. "How's it going?"

"Pretty good…I just wish I had something to use to weld,"

"Like this?" Ginny pulled a green crayon from her shoe, bursting out in nervous, silent laughter at her friends' faces. "The GUN guards thought I was insane, but they let me keep my crayons. This one is a lighter, it's the closest thing I have."

"I'll use it." Tails took it, twisting the bottom of it with a loud snap. A flame appeared on the sharpened green tip but didn't melt away the disguise.

"Let's see…" Ginny pulled several more crayons from her shoe. "Red's a grenade… blue's knockout gasses... purple's a code scanner, I can break into anywhere that demands DNA…brown's a truth potion, anyone who takes it is forced to tell the truth…and I can't remember for the life of me what white does."

Tails gave a slight sigh. "It's done, but it looks as though it'll fall apart at any second. It should work, though. Sonic, can I have the Emerald?"

Sonic handed him the Emerald, which he placed in the center of the device. Tails plugged it into an outlet and his hand hovered over a small switch.

"As soon as I activate this, you have to be touching both the Emerald and Shadow. It'll boost the power so you can hopefully materialize in the hospital. The only probablem is that everyone there thinks Shadow is an escaped inmate who killed a lot of people…they may go a bit crazy. We'll get there as fast as we can, but this is up to you."

"Right. I'll try my best." Sonic gripped Shadow's hand, gritting his teeth together as he felt the broken glass grinding against Shadow's bones. He hoped that the doctors would be able to do something…anything…

"Ready?" Tails asked.

Sonic brushed the Emerald with his fingers. "Ready."

Tails flicked the switch and the twilight-ish lights above him grew blindingly bright and then blew out in an explosion of sparks. Sonic could hear pops from down the hall as the power blew out, hopefully stopping the other victims' pain. Then the room vanished completely and he was in a comfortable waiting room, three nurses staring at him. One passed out.

** XxXxXxXx**

"Shit,"

"That could not have been worse,"

"At least Shadow is saved! Come on, let's get out of here!" Rouge grabbed the lighter/crayon from Tails and flicked it on, casting eerie shadows across the room. She ran to the door and yanked it open, the others following close behind.

They made it up the stairs without too much trouble, just an occasional stumble. But up above was where the danger started.

It was pitch black in the hall and the group could hear yelling and screaming from the cells down one hall and shouts for order coming from the other. Silver tripped over something, managing a small squeak before he hit the ground.

"Silver, it's fine! It's the guy we knocked out earlier!" Knuckles hissed.

"I knew that," Silver whispered.

"The only way out is that way, the way with the shouting soldiers. We may have to fight." Rouge said. "Everyone be prepared."

No sooner had she said that then footsteps came heavily towards them and voices in unison screamed, "_FREEZE!_"

Rouge extinguished the light and attacked.

"Watch out, Silver! You glow! They're aiming at you!" Ginny shouted.

Gunshots rang out, lighting up the room very briefly. In the flashes, Silver could see she was holding twin ninja stars. In another flash, the stars were lodged in a soldier's throat.

The group fought in any way they could in the pitch blackness, sometimes hitting soldiers and sometimes missing completely. It was beginning to be a hopeless battle in the dark, no one winning or losing.

A high-pitched shriek rang out, causing soldiers to drop their weapons and clap their hands over their ears. The group that was trying to escape did the same until Knuckles managed to rouse them and get them out the door into the blinding sun.

"Ah…so _that's_ what the white crayon does." Ginny snickered.

** XxXxXxXx**

"If you don't mind, I sort of need your help." Sonic said. The Chaos Emerald had used the power it contained, the power source of the prison and most of his energy just to get them where they needed to be. Sonic just hoped it hadn't sapped Shadow of his remaining strength. He would need every bit of it.

"What…what is that _thing_?" One of the nurses asked in horror.

"Does that really matter? He needs help! Get someone in here! Help! Doctor! Anyone!" Sonic shouted, snapping the one remaining nurse into action. She picked up a phone and hurriedly muttered instructions into it.

"Someone'll be here soon," She said before turning to the other nurse and instructing her to put the one that had fainted into one of the chairs.

Sonic sighed with relief, dropping next to Shadow's side and searching for his pulse. It was there, faint and weak, but holding steady. He would make it. "Just a few more minuets, Shadow," Sonic said.

The doors flew open and an uncomfortable looking hospital bed was wheeled in, surrounded by three doctors in surgical scrubs. One did a double take, looking from Shadow to Sonic and then back to Shadow before saying slowly, "Is that…Shadow the Hedgehog?"

"No, man…_I'm_ Shadow." Sonic growled, dark sarcasm lining his words. "Just get him somewhere where he can recover! Get someone in here who can remove glass from under someone's skin! Just do something, dammit!"

The doctors managed to get Shadow on the gurney without harming him too much. They turned and left quickly, almost running down the hall. Sonic collapsed to the floor and the world grew dark.

** XxXxXxXx **

The group was exhausted by the time they finally reached the hospital. Rouge ran in, flashing her ID at the receptionist. "Did a…blue hedgehog…and a black one…come in here?" She gasped.

"I can check." The girl said, surprised by the sudden commotion. She turned and began browsing through files, finally turning back to the group with a puzzled expression on her face. "There must be a mistake…it says Shadow the Hedgehog is undergoing emergency surgery-"

"What room?" The group shouted.

"He's in the emergency OR, which is on the other side of the building-"

"Come on!" Silver shouted.

"But you can't go in there! He's listed as 'critical'!"

The group ignored her, following the signs throughout the building and more than once running into a doctor. After a fair amount of sprinting, they stood at doors marked 'EMERGENCY OR', entering in to find a small waiting room. A door was on the other end of the room, but it was bolted firmly.

"Where's Sonic?" Tails asked.

"I almost forgot about him…" Knuckles sighed.

"Anyone want to go back to the main desk?"

"Aw, forget him. He'll find us," Silver sank into a chair, curling up and leaning his head on the armrest. "I'm exhausted."

"Be exhausted later. We have to find Sonic." Rouge growled.

** XxXxXxXx**

Sonic slowly became aware of the fact he was in a different place than where he had passed out. At least this new place was comfortable and not on a cold floor. He reached to his right, grabbing ahold of thin sheets. His left was the same. He slowly opened his eyes, squinting hard in the bright, burning light.

"MAN, WE THOUGHT YOU WERE DEAD!"

Sonic would have punched Silver in the face had he been a little more awake. Instead he managed to jump and wake up almost completely. He was in a small room on a rather comfortable hospital bed with his group of friends surrounding him and just generally being creepy.

"Too bad he isn't," Knuckles muttered.

"How's Shadow?" Sonic choked out. His throat was dry.

"We still don't know. He's been in surgery for the past hour or so…obviously the doctors are doing everything they can." Ginny handed him a glass of water.

"I think we acted at the right time." Tails piped up. "We escaped with hardly a scratch."

"Just major headaches." Silver muttered again.

"It could be worse." Rouge hissed. "We managed to talk to the man in charge here…he won't tell GUN that Shadow is here. Because if they find out…there's a good chance he'll relive that agony again."

"How long was I out?" Sonic asked.

"About an hour, we think. They gave you an IV for a while and you started coming around about five minuets ago. Sorry about the Emerald thing." Tails said.

"At least it got us here and Shadow's still alive." Sonic sighed.

"Yeah…I guess all we have to do right now is wait."

** XxXxXxXx**

** So THAT'S what the white crayon does!**

** Ha.**

** Ok, anyway, this chapter was lame. But in the upcoming ones, will they find out who actually killed all those people? Will they defeat evil like they always do? Will Shadow survive? Find out next time, when I actually get a chance to write crap and post it when I'm not at work!**

** XxXxXxXx **


	6. Chapter 5: The Last Place They Will Look

** CHAPTER 5**

Three more hours passed before one of the doctors came with news.

"Well? Is he going to die?" Silver asked from where he was curled in a chair and annoyed from being awoken.

"Only time can tell," The doctor sighed. "Whatever was done to him…it was almost too much for him to take. We barely kept him from death."

"There are others like him in the basement of the prison in Emerald Town," Ginny spoke up. "Many more. Some are worse than him…"

The doctor shuddered, as if just thinking about the fact that there were more victims would kill them. He sighed, turned, and attempted to leave.

"Hold on a second. Can we see him?" Sonic asked.

"I suppose. But he isn't very pretty." The doctor lead them down the hall, coming to a pair of doors labeled 'RECOVERY'. They entered, coming to a back room.

"He may not be able to move on his own for a couple of weeks…if he can even more at all. They severely damaged his spine, crushing part of it…" The doctor sighed. "I'm going to have a word with GUN about this."

"Leave that up to us," Ginny said. "Don't worry, we'll handle it."

They entered into the small room, finding a bed shoved up against the far wall. Shadow lay motionless, most of his body covered in bandages. A thick tube entered his throat, the other end connected to one of many large machines stacked behind the bed. Wires sprung from under many of the bandages, leading back to the other monitors. Tails clutched the Chaos Emerald in his hand tightly, never once taking his eyes off Shadow.

"We believe he'll still be able to speak. What damage they did to his throat was amazing…it was almost as if they tore it open just to keep him from screaming…but it was improperly done. I'm absolutely amazed he's survived even after that," The doctor sighed. "He just refuses to accept death."

"I think this will help him. We used most of its power to get him and Sonic here, but it should do something." Tails held up the Emerald.

"Go ahead."

He gently placed the Emerald in Shadow's less mutilated hand, stepping back as a soft glow covered him. A few readings on the monitors behind them grew stronger, bringing hope to the group's eyes.

"Well, we're off to a good start." Knuckles said. "Come on, guys. Let's get some food."

"One more thing…" The doctor said. "Along with the broken pieces of glass, we found this."

The group looked up to see he was holding something dark and rectangular, covered in dried blood. Ginny blinked hard, knocked the thing to the floor and stomped on it with all her might. It broke in two, revealing tiny wires and pieces of metal. She glanced up, finally muttering, "That's a tracking device. "

** XxXxXxXx**

"This is bad!"

"You don't say."

"No! I mean GUN probably knows we smuggled him here…they'll storm the hospital! More innocents could die! We've got to get Shadow out of here!" Ginny paced.

"And what? Move him where?" Silver asked.

"Well, where's the last place they'll look?" Rouge asked.

Ginny halted in her tracks, gazing out the window with a look of horror and disapproval on her face. "Prison Island," She said at last. "There's actually an abandoned building that's just painted to look like an observatory tower. We can hide him there. No one will ever know."

"I can think of so many ways this could go wrong." Sonic muttered.

"This is probably our only chance." Tails piped up. "Besides, once we reach the island I can construct security measures."

"Well, we have to move fast." Knuckles said. "We've already spent more than enough time here."

**XxXxXxXx**

The guard on duty was reclined back in his chair, feet up on the control panel. A newspaper was folded over his face, but it did nothing to mute his snoring. He had been on 'watch' for a few hours now, but like any other day, nothing happened.

And now, unlike many days, an alarm went off.

The guard fell out of his chair, landing heavily on the ground. He pulled himself up, swearing, and glanced towards the many monitors that watched the island.

There…in sector 4…someone had broken in.

"Man, I sure hope they told you guys what to do in case of an emergency, because not a word was spoken to me!" He shouted into a radio, turning and leaving the room.

He did not notice the helicopter land in the middle of the forest, next to the old observatory tower...

** XxXxXxXx**

"Go!"

Rouge kicked open the abandoned building's door and rushed inside, checking for any danger. She motioned for the others to follow and they hurriedly crowded into the small main floor. Last came a few of the doctors, pushing Shadow's gurney in the furthest and safest corner of the room, stacking equipment around it.

"We'll be back shortly!" The helicopter's pilot shouted, motioning for most of the doctors to head back to their means of transport. They lifted off quickly, zipping straight up into the sky and flying off at a breakneck speed.

"That actually went well," Silver said, looking over the bags of supplies that had been brought with them. "Did we pack any Oreos?"

"Now if everything actually went according to plan Sonic won't get captured." Knuckles sighed. "But knowing him, something happened or else he'd be back by now."

"Who should be back by now?" Sonic asked, bursting through the door and smacking him with it.

"No one. Put your speed to use and run far, far away. Because if I catch you there won't be enough of you to bury." Knuckles hissed.

Tails began to gather up supplies from another bag, using the junk to make a medium sized generator. Ginny risked a glance at the window and everyone else went to explore their new home.

"We need an X-Box," Sonic decided. "And a flat screen and surround system. All about right here." He stared at a wall, as if thinking about the electronics would bring them into real life.

"You wish." Silver sighed.

"Well, there's not much to do over the next few months here. Might as well invest in a PlayStation Portable,"

"You wish. We're dead broke."

Sonic cast him a glare but quickly brightened up again. "Hey, Rouge, you steal things, right?"

Silver facepalmed.

** XxXxXxXx**

** Aaagh, short chapter! Shortest one, probably! Oh, well. More stuff on the way; this is where it really begins to get good, I swear.**

** XxXxXxXx**


	7. Chapter 6: Recovery and Capture

**CHAPTER 6**

Twenty six more innocents were accounted for dead over the next five months. During that time the group continued to lie low on Prison Island; never once arising suspicion. At night Rouge would leave to pick up supplies and return within the hour. All during this time, Shadow slowly grew stronger.

Some of the scars had faded, but the deeper ones had remained; forever imprinted in his skin. Although he couldn't walk without guidance from the walls or one of the others trapped within the watchtower's walls or speak without breaking off in a coughing fit, he was recovering at a surprising rate. But if there was one wound that would never heal, it was the pattern of some of the worst scars on his back.

They formed the word 'DISGRACE'. Deliberately carved into his flesh forever, as though he was branded.

"What's up?"

Shadow glanced from the window to Sonic, who walked up beside his bed. "Nothing,"

"You're just ready to get out there and bring whoever caused this many deaths to justice, right? Don't worry, I'm totally with you on this. Whoever did this deserves the death sentence fifty times over."

Shadow unconsciously traced one of the fading scars down the side of his head, remembering with a shudder the cold, steel blade that felt like fire. How they managed to do what they did to him without killing him was a mystery. One he would rather not know about.

"Ginny doesn't think you'll be able to leave this place for another three months. Then you'd have to go through all sorts of therapy and then she thinks you'd be ready to take on this killer." Sonic informed. "But I told her you could do all this in two months."

Shadow sat up a bit straighter, cracking his back slightly. Thanks to the aided help with the Chaos Emerald, it had healed correctly. "I don't know." He muttered.

"Well, I do. And I think you can get out of here if one of us goes out there to find another Chaos Emerald."

"What? Ginny said-"

"I know. But if I go fast enough, I can run across the water. No one will see me. Then I'll warp back here and meet up with you guys again."

"You do know that if anyone sees you at all-"

"I know…" Sonic growled.

While they had been hiding out on the island, Tails, Knuckles, Sonic, Shadow, Ginny and two of the doctors staying with them had been declared missing. The story was that Shadow escaped Prison Island and kidnapped them, possibly killing them all. No evidence was found yet, but the police were confident that something would show up eventually. Rouge was only seen at night, but no one suspected her of any foul play.

"But hey, I think I know where one might be." Sonic's bright attitude returned. "And if there's none where I think there are…I'll pay Eggman a visit. He'll get quite a shock; he probably thinks I'm dead like the rest of the innocents. Shouldn't be too hard to steal from."

Shadow was taken in a violent coughing fit that almost made him pitch forward off the bed. It passed just as quickly as it came, leaving him drawing in deep breaths.

"Cough any louder and the security will find us," Sonic remarked.

"Shut up,"

Silver came running down from the main watchtower's stairs. "Hey, you guys! This is really weird! You've got to see this!"

"Feel up to it?" Sonic held his hand out towards Shadow, who knocked it away and used the wall instead, stumbling more than once but making it up the stairs.

"Look!" Silver pointed into the harbor, where a battleship had docked. Tiny figures of GUN soldiers were swarming around like ants, carrying huge boxes and shouting orders to each other.

"I wonder what they're doing?" Knuckles squinted, but he couldn't make out what was going on. "Is that more military equipment or something more?"

"Can't tell. I'll be right back." Ginny ran down the stairs, the others shouting at her not to go. But of course she ignored them.

"She's going to get herself killed one day," Rouge sighed.

They just watched the tiny ant-like figures scurry back and fourth when they suddenly dispersed; either heading back to the ship or going into the main building on the island. The boat left the dock, disappearing into the horizon.

Ginny didn't come back until later that night after Rouge had left. "You won't believe this." She sighed.

"What?" Silver asked, fear in his voice.

"They're bringing in equipment for higher security…security that will span the entire island. We'll be trapped…we don't have time to escape or the means to."

"In that case, I'd better get that Chaos Emerald I was talking about." Sonic darted out the door and into the night before anyone could do anything.

"Why do you people never listen to each other?" One of the doctors muttered.

"It's mostly just Sonic." Tails sighed.

**XxXxXxXx**

The house where Sonic used to live was locked up, surrounded by security guards that seemed to be going through his stuff. So much for a backup Emerald.

So on that note, Sonic left, grumbling curses about bad luck and GUN and how freaking _hot_ it was that day, etc. At least he had a backup plan, no matter how bad it was. He knew it was bad from the start when it involved Eggman.

And so that's how Sonic found himself destroying robots guarding the doctor's base, getting inside the furthest security doors and making his way in. Although he didn't exacally remember the way, he was fairly certain that more stuff would try to stop him along the way.

"Sonic?"

He spun around to see Eggman standing behind him, a huge laser gun in his hands and looking like he just saw a ghost. Sonic waved lamely. "Haven't seen you in a while. What's up?"

"You…you're suppost to be dead…!"

"And you're suppost to be smart. I stopped questioning the facts long ago. Look, I need your Chaos Emerald. Shadow won't be able to escape GUN without it, and-"

"But…it was said that Shadow killed you! Not that I believed it at first, but with all this evidence...ah, nevermind. But what do you mean? You're working with him now?" Eggman dropped the gun and backed up. "Don't kill me!"

"He's been framed, Smart One. And severely injured. The Emerald's his only chance of survival."

"It is?" Eggman cast him a glance. "How do I know this isn't a trick?"

"I'll take it from you by force if I have to. That way, no one's tricking anyone." Sonic shrugged.

"Sounds fine," He picked up the gun again, switching on something on its side. "but you won't be getting it! BWHAHAHAAA!"

Sonic dodged the hail of bullets and knocked the gun out of Eggman's hands, making him lose his balance and fall heavily to the ground. "You were saying?"

"We'll see about that." Eggman grinned evilly.

Before Sonic could react, a large robot had picked him up by his left foot, letting him take wild swings at it but doing no harm. Eggman laughed, getting up and facing Sonic with a maniac grin on his face.

"_You_ were saying?"

"Give me a sec…" Sonic reached up and tried to knock the fingers off the robot, but its grip around his foot got tighter, nearly crushing it. Sonic gripped at his ankle, kicking with his free foot at the robot.

"You've had your chance." Eggman sneered. The robot leveled a large gun against Sonic's head. "If you give up now I won't break every bone in your body."

"Sounds painful." Sonic pushed the gun away, but it swung back and hit him in the face. All the while, the grip on his foot got tighter, almost to the point of no feeling at all.

"Destroy him!"

The robot suddenly released its grip; so suddenly that Sonic didn't have time to flip over before he hit the ground hard…with his head. Stars clouded his vision and he felt the robot put its weight into the center of his back, driving all the air out of his lungs.

"I guess I win." Eggman laughed. "You've gotten out of practice! I knew I'd have my revenge soon!"

Sonic couldn't move an inch nor breathe. The world was going dark all around him, sound muting itself and the feeling of being crushed fading. The last thing he remembered was thinking that the group on Prison Island was doomed.

**XxXxXxXx**

"Sonic should have been back by now." Tails said worriedly.

"Well, you know Sonic. Always late." Knuckles sighed.

"Quiet! They're coming back!" Rouge hissed, ducking behind the stairs that lead up to the second story.

The others ducked behind crates, supplies, anything; barely moving as the squad of GUN solders ran past, their commander shouting orders to halt.

"Sir…?" One of the soldiers asked softly.

"What is it?" The commander barked.

"We're…not alone here. There are seven heat sources in that building…but we've never detected them before."

"Spread and search. On the double!"

Tails' eyes widened, fear clear on his face. Before he could do anything, the door was kicked open and sunlight streamed into the 'abandoned' observatory tower. Soldiers rushed in, guns at the ready.

"Sir! It's like…someone was living here! A group of people!"

"And they're still here." Another soldier said, dragging a kicking, punching and cursing Ginny out form behind the generator.

"Get your filthy hands off me, you son of a bitch! Who do you think you are, coming into my damn house uninvited? Get out before I kick your ass to Hell and back, mother fu-"

"Quite a temper,"

"Bet your damn life I have a temper."

"What's your name and what are you doing on this island?"

"I'm Sparrow," Ginny hissed. "Go away. This was the only place I could afford."

"I'm afraid you'll have to accompany us back to the main building, Miss Sparrow. We have a few questions for you." The soldier grabbed her arm, dragging her to her feet. "The rest of you, search this place. See if you can find anything."

"If I come back and find one thing out of place, you're getting it good, buster," Ginny growled, but the solders didn't pay her any attention as they dragged her out of the tower.

"She wasn't who she said she was, was she?" One soldier asked.

"No. She's working for the Others. We've got another of their spies….this is almost too good to be true. Soon we will overtake GUN…I must say, our agent is doing a very good job framing that experiment for these deaths."

Shadow, who was lying motionless behind a few crates of supplies, couldn't believe what he was hearing. And yet...it made complete sense. Being framed by someone else for unknown causes…but those causes weren't unknown anymore. The insane GUN members were aiming to overthrow the organization, starting with those who seemed the biggest threat.

"I can't wait to see what they'll do when we get ahold of him again," The soldier continued. "The glass self-torture thing was new, but got old quickly. I'm hoping for something more…high tech."

"I thought the glass was perfect." Another soldier spoke up.

"We'll argue later. There's still people in here." A third voice spoke up. "One's right in front of you."

The crates began to move. Shadow gritted his teeth together and sprang up, his fist catching the soldier in his jaw. Just that simple move caused white-hot pain to flare through his arm.

"Something hit Kyle!"

"Open fire!"

Bullets began to tear apart the crate. Shadow ducked down as close as he could to the ground, praying for the bullets to not find their mark. After a few seconds of ear-shattering shooting, it stopped.

"Did you get it?"

"No clue."

"Well, go check!"

Shadow shoved the crate away, knocking one soldier over and taking the others by surprise. He sprang up, left leg burning with pain and threatening to give out, and retrieved a small pistol from the ground.

"Shadow…" the first soldier gasped. "Wha…what…?"

"Leave my friends alone!" Shadow hissed, leveling the gun with the soldier's arm. He shot, the bullet piercing the flesh and splattering blood onto the floor.

Two more shots downed the other soldiers, bleeding and in pain but not dead. Knuckles leapt out of hiding and helped Shadow stay steady on his feet while Rouge, Tails, Silver and the two doctors gathered up everything they could need for a quick escape.

"What about Ginny?" Shadow coughed.

"She'll make it. She's experienced in this field." Rouge tossed Knuckles a small pistol much like the one Shadow was holding. "Come on!"

A gunshot from behind them, where one of the soldiers was lying.

Shadow managed a choked gasp before falling to the ground, curled tightly in a ball.

**XxXxXxXx**

A light as bright as the sun interrupted the darkness. Sonic squinted, trying to move away. His back hit thick steel bars, no way out. He forced himself awake, trying to find out where he was. His left foot felt broken; just moving slightly sent burning pain throughout his leg. The cage's floor was hard and his shoulder hurt from where he had been lying on it for a while. He gritted his teeth together and forced himself into an awkward attempt at sitting that ended up with him collapsing painfully back onto his side.

"Where am I?" Sonic muttered, not sure he wanted an answer.

"In the heart of my lair. No escape, even if you managed to run out of here," The triumphant voice answered somewhere to his right. "Yes, I've finally got you, Sonic. And I want a few questions answered."

"Or what?" Sonic growled.

"Why don't you look down?"

Sonic glanced down, trying not to let fear enter his eyes. The cage he was in was suspended by a thin table over a giant tank of water. He backed away from the cage's bars, trying not to catch sight of the height he was at again.

"Since the public thinks you're dead, I could kill you myself and not make any difference. But I think I want you alive. I have a plan in store for you, unless you resist. In that case, I will enjoy watching you drown," Eggman walked over, a remote that probably activated the table to retract. "So…what do you mean that Shadow was severely injured?"

"Exacally that. What else could I mean?" Sonic shrugged.

"Where is he?"

"Somewhere safe…hopefully."

"Who else is with him? Does that mean that Knuckles, Rouge, Tails and those other people are still alive?"

"Kind of. Last I heard he was keeping them to eat," Sonic acted like he was thinking hard. "The only reason he let me go was because he needed the Chaos Emerald. And his exact words to me were, 'you'd better return or all of Hell will be after you-'"

"Stop lying!"

The table shook dangerously. Sonic gripped one of the bars, knowing it wouldn't do anything if the support fell. One end of the cage seemed to be tipping dangerously.

"Where is he?" Eggman demanded.

"Somewhere," Sonic said. "I don't know."

"One last chance."

"I don't know." Sonic said firmly. "You'd have better luck asking a tree where he was."

Eggman pressed the button on the remote and the table dropped. The cage hit the water with a loud splash, its weight dragging it to the bottom. Sonic kicked out wildly, ignoring the agonizing pain in his foot and tearing at the bars. But they didn't weaken in the slightest.

He glanced around wildly, nothing to see except the water blurring everything. His lungs were burning, any second he'd take in a gasp of water. Just when all strength was leaving him completely, the cage lifted.

Sonic lay, gasping and coughing, almost surprised that he was still alive. The will to fight was sapped along with his strength, but he still would battle if he had to.

"That was a warning. Next time I really will let you drown." Eggman growled.

"Yeah…I knew you wouldn't do it anyway…" Sonic said in-between gasps.

"Where's Shadow?"

"The last place anyone would look." Sonic said. "And that's all I'm telling you."

"Good," Eggman pulled a communicator from his pocket, turning it on and saying, "Some of the 'dead' aren't really dead. They're helping Shadow recover, including Sonic the Hedgehog. I have him captured at this moment, but the others are still free. He told me that Shadow is in the last place anyone would dare to look…that can only mean one place."

Sonic crossed his fingers behind his back. He hoped that GUN wasn't as smart as they thought they were.

"Rodger that. We understand." The communicator said. "Sending out search parties within the hour. We'll have them back here by nightfall."

Eggman switched it off and turned back to his prisoner. "The last place anyone would look, huh?"

"Yep. Solve that riddle."

"Already did."

**XxXxXxXx**

"_Shadow_!" Tails screamed, trying to reach him. Two soldiers came running into the room and held him back, guns leveled at his head.

"Back off!" Knuckles growled, slamming a bag of food into one of their temples. They turned to him, allowing Tails time to slip away.

"We're here to rescue you!" the first soldier shouted. "Don't _attack_ us!"

"What do you mean, 'rescue'?" Silver retorted. "Isn't it clear to you that Shadow isn't the one who's killing all these people?"

At his name, Shadow sprang up from the ground and shot, barely missing the soldiers. "Don't make yourselves my first kills." He hissed. "You're lucky you have bad aim, otherwise you would have destroyed all chances of finding the real killer. Now, let us go and no one else gets hurt."

"We can't do that," The first soldier said. "We have orders to bring you back to base, dead or alive. Your choice."

They trained their guns on him, waiting for the next move.

**And that's the chapter. Yey, suspense! (My Guinea Pig swears)… And you have to wait to find out what happens! HA HA! And the climax is coming, probably within the next few chapters here. So…what do you think will happen? Remember to review!**

**XxXxXxXx**

**Holy crap, you guys! You're lucky enough to get a PT 2 of the Author Notes! Yey!**

**The other day I was reading through every Author Note I had ever posted…and boy, am I amazed. I've come an **_**extremely**_** long way. I can't stress that enough. I began stuff on this site while I was in a severe depression, believe it or not. (Those of you who know me know this) That's why humor was a main goal of mine, I would attempt to make myself laugh along with you guys. Now my parents would tell you otherwise, as the mask of 'non-depression' I always wore was enough for them…they were never really good with 'seeing below surface emotions', anyway. But they're not here to butt in on everything I do, thank God, I'm sick and tired of that; of them always saying, "Oh, your life was **_**perfect**_** back then!" whenever I bring up my old schools.**

**Hell, no. That place was Hell on earth. The people were fallen angels, I swear…**

**So on that note, I came out of a depression mostly from you guys. Your reviews really helped me. I thought I could never make a difference in the world…but apparently I got a few of you to choke on watermelon while reading some of my stuff. (Sorry!) **

**And so, thanks mainly to high-school and a few really good friends and teachers who really opened my eyes to things, the worst of it is over. I'm able to write about depressing things without being depressed myself, so I count that as a major milestone. Although sometimes the depressing part of me takes over and things go downhill from there. It happened…I think…twice. But not in this Fic. **

**I'm rambling again. Sorry. Ignore everything you just read. I'm having a weird day.**

**Until next time!**

**Hasta la Vista, Readers!**

**Lordoftheghostking28**


	8. Chapter 7: A Narrow Escape

** CHAPTER 7**

Shadow dropped his weapon.

The others gathered in the room simply stared in amazement, the soldiers included. One of them motioned for the door. "This way."

As he drew closer to the soldiers, Shadow leapt into the air and roundhouse-kicked them both in the face, knocking them unconscious. He turned to his comrades and shouted, "Hurry! We need to get out of here…_NOW_!"

Knuckles grabbed one of the bags of supplies and hurried after the others, diving into the thick forest to try to lose any pursuers.

"What do we do?" Tails asked, his eyes wide.

"Just keep moving. We'll come to the harbor eventually…there's got to be a boat or something we can steal for a while." Rouge said.

"But what about-"

A branch broke above them and Ginny came crashing down, landing hard on Silver and knocking him to the ground. "Oh, hey, guys."

"Ow! Get off of me!" Silver shouted.

"Relax! Anyway, I don't know what the hell you did, but you've got the whole island after you. The harbor's that way, but the rate we're going at…we'll never make it. They're sending in these weird things that remind me of battle droids from something like _Star Wars_." Ginny sprang up and ran. "Come on! Move your lazy butts!"

From their right came a crashing noise and then a security robot twice the height of them came after them, flying over the undergrowth; gun aimed at them. Rouge dived out of the way and kicked it hard, sending it crashing into a tree. Three more robots came at them from all directions.

"_RUN_!" Tails screamed, running after Ginny with a terrified expression on his face. The others were close behind; Silver slowed by helping Shadow.

"I can run!" he growled. "Get out of here!"

"Are you kidding me?" Silver protested. "Don't think I don't see you limping like you're walking on broken glass!"

"That was _not_ funny."

"Sorry,"

A good-sized group of the robots had ganged up behind them, shooting but only succeeding in striking the ground at the moment. But soon their weapons would find their marks.

Silver used his telekinesis to turn a robot around and slam it into the others. A small pileup began, but was quickly sorted out. Shots were still fired, missing but coming closer and closer.

** XxXxXxXx**

"I hate it when this happens," Sonic grumbled, struggling to keep his head above the slowly rising water. Eggman had left, leaving the cage to plunge into the water, slowly but surely; supported by the table.

He estimated he had about five minuets at the most left before he would drown.

"Why does it have to end like this?" He shouted to no one in particular. "Why water? _Why_? What did I do to deserve this terrible fate?"

"Oh, relax, you drama queen."

Sonic, taken by surprise by the sudden, almost unfamiliar voice, submerged himself for a total of ten seconds before surfacing again, choking and sputtering. The cage began to lift itself until he was out of the tank completely.

"Haven't seen you in a while. Had you been here the entire time?"

Sonic wiped water from his eyes and glanced towards the source of the voice to see the all-too familiar purple feline who was unnaturally good at war games.

"_Blaze_?"

"Who else?" Blaze shrugged.

"How'd you get here?"

"I know this base inside and out," Blaze pressed another button on a small remote, making one side of the cage door open. "Who do you think was stopping Eggman this whole time? No one gives me credit anymore…"

She trailed off for a few seconds. "So…if you're still alive…"

"Then everyone else is? Yes. Now we need to find a Chaos Emerald and get out of here so we can get back to the others. We're sort of in a bad situation over where we're hiding out, and I think Eggman knows where they are, so this can complicate things to the extreme." Sonic pointed further into the base, putting most of his weight on his one good leg. "We should get moving."

"Wrong way."

"Ok, fine, you're the expert." Sonic growled. "Just help me find the Emerald. I'll explain everything as we look."

** XxXxXxXx **

"There's the harbor!"

"And there's a boat! We're gonna make it!"

No sooner had Tails said that then a huge group of the robots blocked their path, guns aimed at their faces. Silver, Shadow, Rouge, Ginny and Tails skid to a stop, trying to decide what to do.

"Surrender," One of them commanded. "You have one chance. Failure to comply will result in severe injury or death."

"Move it, scrap heap." Ginny growled, walking confidently forward. "Or the same could be said to _you_."

"Destroy," The robot said, the barrel of its gun beginning to glow with power.

Gunny knocked it to the right as it shot, hitting one of the other robots. But that seemed to be an invitation to mass chaos. All the robots took aim.

Tails jumped into the air and flew off, darting towards the harbor. Rouge tried to follow, but Silver grabbed her ankles and slowed her ascent. "Shadow!"

Shadow grabbed his hand and they managed to get off the ground and away from the robots before Rouge's wings gave out and they plummeted hard to the ground. Ginny was still fighting, holding up surprisingly well and destroying most of the threats.

"Are you ok?" Silver asked. "I mean..it's kinda rocky here, and I landed on one…"

"Never been better," Rouge growled. "Warn me before you do that again."

"I'll manage." Shadow struggled to his feet. "Hurry. Knuckles and Tails are already at the boat."

"What about the doctors that came with us?"

"We can't wait any longer." Silver ran along the pier, jumping into a sleek GUN speedboat. "HEY! COME ON!"

"I'll fly back and get her!" Tails volunteered. "You start this thing and get out of here!"

The keys were under in a small storage bin, hidden under a life vest. Rouge started the motor and the boat sputtered to life, backing out sharply from the dock.

Something hit the water nearby them, and then something else hit the side of the boat, rocking it dangerously. From on shore, some of the robots had realized what was taken place and were determined to stop their escape. Tails was hovering out of range, trying to find the right time to duck into the battle and drag Ginny out. Time was something they didn't have at the moment.

"GET HER AND LET'S GET OUT OF HERE!" Knuckles shouted.

"She won't come!" Tails' answer was almost too quiet to hear. "She wants us to leave her!"

That was about when the large battleship appeared in the sky not too far off.

**XxXxXxXx**

It didn't take long to find the Chaos Emerald. It was practically unguarded and in the middle of a large circular room. Blaze broke the glass surrounding it and pointed to the door. "Come on, there's bound to be traps now that we've stolen the Emerald."

She barely finished her sentence before a door opened off to the right and large robots holding guns entered, firing wildly. Sonic tried to Spin-Dash into them, forgetting that his foot was injured. His ankle gave out and he fell heavily to the ground, a bullet narrowly missing him.

Blaze grabbed his other foot and dragged him out of the room, countering bullets with fire. As soon as they were out of the room she thrust the Emerald at him. "Well, you know how to use it, right? _Use it_!"

"Chaos Control!"

They appeared in what seemed to be the bridge of a large aircraft, judging by the astonishing view through the main windows. A small island wasn't too far off…

"Are we where I think we are?" Blaze sighed, casting a nervous glance around the ship's control center.

"Probably. How many other ships have Eggman's face painted on the side?" Sonic pointed out the window at another battleship nearby. "We might as well destroy this one."

He tossed the Emerald into the air, catching it again and ramming it into one of the main control boards. It began to smoke and spark as an alarm blared harshly, bathing the bridge in a harsh red glow. The ship began to tilt forward, gaining speed towards the island.

"Oh, shit," Sonic muttered.

"We need to get out of here! Now!" Blaze shouted, trying to keep her balance as a chair began rolling towards her, smashing into the window instead but not breaking it. "There's no way we can direct this thing and-"

She was cut off as the viewing screen was suddenly filled with the hull of another ship. A split second later a defining crash nearly sent them flying through the window too. The ship they were in unleashed another siren, and gravity seemed to decrease.

"Come on!" Blaze grabbed Sonic's arm and dragged him off the bridge, trying not to fall backwards as harsh rumblings shook the floor. As soon as they cleared the door into the hallway, most of the bridge was destroyed by the other ship. Fire nearly singed the escapees but they kept on going.

"Any way out of this thing?" Blaze demanded.

"Over there! An emergency hatch!" Sonic pointed, tearing himself out of her grip and painfully climbing a ladder. He twisted the cover off and stepped up on top of the aircraft, holding on to a small ledge so he wouldn't be blown off. "Come on!"

Blaze climbed up after him, squinting in the wind as it blew her fur back. "What do we do now?"

The ship gave another shudder, part of the front breaking off in an earthquake of sound and motion. Sonic lost his grip and would have tumbled over the side had Blaze not grabbed him.

"Thanks. You know I can't swim, right?"

"You might have to learn to very quickly." Blaze growled over the noise, searching over the island. "I think I see them!"

"Where?"

"They're in a boat…heading this way! The ship's sunk so low in the sky we can make it if we jump…and then get their attention!"

"Are you crazy?"

"Probably," Blaze shrugged.

They were both suddenly covered in red light that could only mean one thing. Blaze looked up, squinting, to see a missile heading directly towards them. "I guess we don't have a choice now."

"Blaze! Don't let go! What are you…AAAAGH!" Sonic started tumbling down towards the waves, Blaze jumping after him as the missile hit the ship with a loud explosion. The ship began sinking faster in the sky…

They hit the ground with a hard _splash_, Sonic flailing around, choking as water forced itself down his throat. Blaze tried her hardest to keep his head over the surface, but despite her efforts he was pushing her away and breathing in saltwater instead.

A huge splash sounded behind them, followed by a massive wave that swept them forward a good distance. Blaze couldn't tell which way was up…which way was down…she was spinning under the surface, light blending in with the darkness and trying to force her to take a deep breath.

Something grabbed her arm and pulled her up…at least, she thought it was up. Then sunlight burned her eyes and she spewed out the lungful of water she nearly took in.

"Blaze! Thank God you're alive!" Silver cried, throwing his arms around her. "We saw you jump…then the battleship crashed…"

"G….get Sonic!" Blaze coughed. "He jumped too!"

"I've got him!" Tails shouted, flying out of the boat and searching the water, screaming, "Sonic!"

Blaze looked over the wreckage of the battleship, another hovering in the sky damaged from where the first ship had rammed it. Knuckles gunned the motorboat and followed Tails around the destruction, looking for any sign of Sonic.

"There!" Shadow shouted, catching everyone by surprise. "He's pinned under!"

They followed his gaze to see Sonic's left leg crushed between a sheet of metal and a pipe, his ankle twisted at a terrible angle. He wasn't moving.

Before Blaze could do anything, a splash caught her attention. Shadow had jumped off the boat and was now diving after Sonic.

**XxXxXxXx**

** OOOH MORE SUSPENCE! Next chapter coming soon! I've actually had every chapter typed up for a while now…I'm beginning to run out of chapters to upload and I'm going to have to write something else for this Fic. **

** Just so you know, I'm also working on ****The CrackFic That Went Terribly Wrong**** and ****The Detective Agency II****. I know a couple of you are excited for the DA II, so I'll try to get that out on the Internet real soon after this Fic is completed.**

** Hasta la Vista, Readers!**

** Lordoftheghostking28 **


	9. Chapter 8: Eyes

**CHAPTER 8**

"Is he crazy?" Knuckles shouted. "He's going to die too!"

Rouge dived off the boat after him, swimming expertly down towards where Sonic was pinned under and struggling to lift the pipe out of the way with Shadow. Even with their combined efforts, nothing happened.

"I'll help!" Silver followed them with a loud splash.

"No! You can't! It's sinking further down as we speak!" Blaze shouted, but she knew that he didn't hear her.

There was only one thing she knew she could do.

"Blaze! You too?" Knuckles shouted as she hit the surface. She could barely see the others through the murky water and the depth they were sinking to. She grabbed a section of the pipe and tried to move it out of the way as much as she could.

It jerked to the side, releasing Sonic's leg. Blaze grabbed his arm and began swimming as hard as she could up to the surface; the others following very closely.

Knuckles and Tails pulled them all back into the boat. "Is everyone ok?" Tails asked, wide eyed and scared.

"Sonic, say something!" Shadow coughed, grabbing and shaking his shoulders hard. "Anything!"

"Is he dead?" Tails squeaked.

"Of course not." Knuckles muttered, but the group caught the doubt in his voice.

Silver pushed Shadow out of the way and began giving Sonic chest compressions. He was still unresponsive even after thirty seconds. Tails' eyes welled up in tears, terrified that he had lost his friend. Blaze pulled the Chaos Emerald out of a pocket and placed it in Sonic's hand.

"Come on…" she whispered.

There was a brilliant flash of light that caused Silver to stumble backwards off the boat in a loud splash; nearly taking everyone else on the craft with him. Sonic began to cough, water spewing out of his mouth.

"You're alive!" Tails jumped. "We were so worried!"

"T…Tails! Aaagh! What…?" Sonic gritted his teeth together and tried to sit up. Blaze shoved him back down again.

"Don't move! Your ankle is badly injured!"

"What do we do?" Knuckles asked. "I mean…we're who knows how far we are from land. And this little boat isn't going to do anything-"

He was cut off as Sonic gave an agonized moan, curling into a ball and gripping at his injured limb. "And Sonic needs help…fast." Knuckles finished.

"I think the only way to go is back to the island. We'll get something there…" Shadow winced. He hadn't exhorted himself like that since he had been captured by GUN. The muscles in his arms and legs felt as though they were twisted in knots.

"Yeah, we'll get something, all right." Rouge growled. _"Captured._"

"And where do you suppose we'll go, if not the island?" Shadow retorted.

Rouge didn't say anything. She just narrowed her eyes and glared.

"We're going back to the island." Blaze said, pulling Silver from the water again. "Everyone be on your guard."

**XxXxXxXx**

Ginny sighed, completely relaxed. She had been in worse situations before, so being tied to a chair in the middle of a room surrounded by guards with guns was nothing. Her weapons were laid out on a nearby table, a few more guards trying to figure out what the 'crayons' were for.

"Careful," Ginny warned, but her warning came too late. One had twisted the bottom of the lighter, burning his fingers. "Sorry. I warned you."

The door was opened and a black and white Mobian guinea pig walked in. She was mostly white, a black band covering her eyes. She was dressed completely in gray, complete with gray shoes and gloves. "I'm Bandit. From the prison back over there," she jerked a thumb in the general direction of land. "You've escaped along with Shadow the Hedgehog. Where is he?"

"Like I'd tell you. What would you do to him next? It took him about five months to recover…and that's with his sped-up healing ability." Ginny sighed again. "This room is so boring. You could really use a painter or something."

Bandit took a few steps towards Ginny. "We're not in the mood to play games. Tell me where he is and I will spare you from a fate like his."

Ginny scoffed. "And then what? When I'm beyond words in pain…what'll you do next? You have no one else to question."

Bandit barred her teeth and began pacing back and fourth. "You're standing in our path…our path to total control. We won't treat you humanely like our other prisoners if you don't cooperate. We will use brute force to get what we want." She leaned in towards Ginny's face so her nose was only a few inches away. "If I were you I'd start talking."

Ginny nodded and yawned. "Ok, yeah, sure. Just one thing…" Her tone began to get serious. "How and why did you decide to frame Shadow the Hedgehog? How and why are you doing this? What will you gain?"

Bandit grinned. "Just the world,"

**XxXxXxXx**

It was dark. Searchlights adorned parts of the shore. The group managed to find a dark place to go ashore on, and were now gathered in the leafy canopy of a few bushes, out of sight and safe from prying eyes. But if someone was to walk by, he would have heard their voices.

Sonic moaned loudly. His ankle had most definitely been broken, and there was nothing the group could do until they escaped Prison Island completely. Tails glanced around nervously, terrified that a guard would find them.

"Sonic, please try to be quieter!" Knuckles growled. "You're going to get us all killed!"

Sonic gritted his teeth together in an answer, stifling another pain-filled sound. Shadow turned his attention back to watching the shores. Nothing had happened yet, but there was no guarantee that would last the night.

"Isn't there another pier at the other end of the island?" He asked.

"I don't know…that's at least a mile long walk. No telling how much security is guarding this place or how many traps are set." Knuckles muttered. "Besides, I don't think Sonic can take two steps at the moment."

"Everyone be quiet!" Rouge hissed suddenly. "Don't make a sound! Someone's coming!"

The group hardly dared to breathe as the sound of crunching leaves met their ears. Someone was indeed walking in their direction…almost directly towards them.

Just when all seemed lost, the guard stopped and spoke, probably into some sort of communicator. "All's quiet out here, Tom. They must be out on the waters by now." He was hardly five feet away from where Shadow was.

A second of silence before the soldier continued talking. "Yeah…about that…how is that even possible? I mean, half these murders couldn't have been committed by Shadow. Just look at the facts; even if he did murder some of these people—which I'm seriously beginning to doubt he did—the murders are too spaced out. All over the continent." Another moment of silence.

"Tom, something's going on with GUN. Something serious. I don't know what yet, but when I do…" The soldier trailed off and stumbled backwards, like he was getting ready to run. "Tom…Tom, call backup! Now! I'm under attack!"

Shadow could not nothing but watch as the soldier turned and ran. He didn't get far before he tripped, seemingly on nothing. He turned onto his back, backing up furiously, still unable to escape an invisible threat. What was attacking him? What was he so scared of?

And then out of nowhere came a figure that Shadow would have easily mistook for himself. The exact height and build, quills upturned at the ends like his. The only difference was the bright red markings didn't seem to be present at all. The double had his back to him, staring at the struggling soldier as he searched frantically for his communicator, finally saying, "Tom! He's here!"

With a choked gasp, the soldier dropped the communicator and was lifted into the air by apparently nothing but the darkness itself. Shadow's double walked calmly towards the GUN guard, a knife in his hand that hadn't been there a second ago.

As he watched, the double slashed the knife across the soldier's throat, separating his head from his body. The now dead soldier fell to the ground, never to move again. The double laughed; a cold, cruel laugh that chilled Shadow himself to the bone. "One less." He chuckled before forcing the knife into the dead soldier's body. With that, he turned and melted away into the dark.

Shadow was slowly becoming aware of the fact that Tails was whimpering, Rouge whispering soothing words to try and quiet him. They couldn't dare to move from their hiding place just yet…doing so would be suicide.

"What was that?" Knuckles asked. "Who the hell was that guy?"

"I think we've found the real killer." Blaze whispered. "And if you ask me, we need to get out of here before he finds us."

"We've got to get to the other side of the island." Silver said. "Sonic, if you stand I can help you walk."

"Can't…" Sonic spat out between clenched teeth.

"You're going to have to." Silver threw Sonic's left arm around his shoulders and hauled him to his feet. They began limping awkwardly in the general direction of the other pier, the others getting up slowly and glancing around, terrified that the killer would return.

Tails was still clinging to Rouge, completely silent. As a searchlight lit up the beach down by the shore, the light reflected off the sand into the woods slightly, lighting up his terrified face. Blaze could only ruffle the fur on his head and whisper, "It's ok, Tails." as comfort.

"Did…did you see his eyes?" The fox whimpered.

"No, he had his back to me." Blaze said.

Shadow was now listening in on the conversation while at the same time watching for any movement in the quiet woods.

Tails hesitated for a second longer before saying, "Well, he…he had green eyes. But they weren't like Sonic's. They…they had veins of darker and lighter green distorting the emerald colour… and his pupils were slits. Like a snake's. Like…like a monster."

Shadow stopped walking and stood still as a statue. Green, snakelike eyes?

He had seen them before.

Back in the prison's labs…just before he completely lost a grip on reality and all he knew was pain. _He_ was there. Watching and laughing with the doctors at his agony. Shadow could hardly recall much from the lab other than the intense lights and blades that tore his flesh, but the memory of those eyes would never leave him as long as he lived.

He was certain they belonged to nothing else but darkness itself.

**XxXxXxXx**

**Hope you enjoyed this chapter…**

**All right, guys. It seems like everything depressing is happening in these Author Notes at the ends of these chapters.**

**If you don't already know, both Ginny and Bandit are based on my two guinea pigs in real life. Bandit is white and black, and Ginny is black and white, ect. And I really love my Squeakers. **

**This morning I woke up and Bandit was dead.**

**She hasn't been doing well these past few days, but this really came unexpectedly. My brother, DinosaurKing82 and I were absolutely heartbroken. We buried her in the garden.**

**I had to force myself to get this chapter up on the internet for you guys. And I have to say…don't expect a few more chapters for a week or so. Partly because my Fluffy is in this and it makes me really sad. **

**Hasta la Vista, Readers.**

**Lordoftheghostking28**


	10. Chapter 9: A Shadow

**CHAPTER 9**

**All right, I'm back. Sorry for the short delay...It gave me time to get over my guinea pig's death and plan out the rest of this. I'm good now...I still have Ginny. :)**

Ginny yawned again. She was actually getting as close to fear as she allowed herself to, but she managed to keep up the act of boredom. Bandit had taken a switchblade from her suit and was flicking it open and closed a million times a second. Ginny couldn't tell if she was indeed worried about her own capture or just annoyed.

"Last chance." Bandit warned. "Where's Shadow?"

"Do you _really_ think I'd sell out my friends?" Ginny asked. "May I be damned before that happens!"

She struck out with her leg, catching Bandit in the knee and sending her falling forward. The switchblade flew through the air, blade opened, directly at the prisoner.

Ginny managed to move to the side as the blade stuck in one of the ropes around her arm, gritting her teeth together as the blade pierced the bond along with part of her arm. She wrenched her arm to the side, cutting the rope completely off but causing the blade to twist further into her arm. Her other hand was free and she used it to rip the bonds away from her and remove the knife.

"What are you waiting for? _SHOOT HER_!" Bandit shouted, struggling back to her feet.

Ginny jumped into the air as the bullets started landing near her feet, flipping once before landing again and knocking a gun out of one of the guard's hands. She ducked behind him as a hail of bullets nearly hit her, watching his body spasm as they imbedded themselves in him instead. She lunged at the other guard, downing him easily.

"Why did you frame him?" Ginny demanded from the one last GUN guard. "And who did your dirty work?"

"You're about to find out." Bandit sneered.

Ginny didn't have a chance to react as a hand clamped over her mouth, pulling her head backwards slightly. A voice sounded close to her ear; a cold, smooth voice she would never forget.

"Hello, rodent,"

**XxXxXxXx**

"We need to rescue Ginny!" Tails protested. "We can send one group to look for a boat and another to find her!"

"I don't think it's safe to split up." Blaze said. "You saw how silently that guy came upon that soldier. That could happen to any of us."

Tails fell silent, the image still fresh in his mind.

"Tails is right." Shadow said. "We need to find Ginny. I'll lead the group to find her. Even if you don't want to follow me, I'm still going."

Rouge and Silver stepped forward in the dim light. "I'll go." Silver said softly.

"We'll find the pier and bring a boat back up around here. You had better be waiting when we come back," Knuckles threatened. "Don't expect us to wait around."

Shadow nodded, motioning to Silver and Rouge. "Let's go."

With that; Tails, Knuckles, Blaze and Sonic began making their way further into the woods. The walk was endless, but they made it to the other end of the island in considerable time. As soon as the water was visible from the woods, Sonic slumped to the ground, unable to go any further.

"Come on, nearly there!" Knuckles hissed.

"I'll stay here with him! You guys get a boat!" Tails said, dragging Sonic as carefully as he could into some nearby bushes.

Blaze and Knuckles got as close as they dared to the ending of the tree line, taking in the scene in front of them and deciding what to do. Searchlights skimmed over the water a little ways out over the shore. There were two guard towers, each one holding at least three guards. And at the end of the pier were five guards pacing back and fourth, guns leaning against their shoulders.

And they were guarding the ideal escape vehicle.

"What do we do with all this?" Knuckles asked out loud.

"I don't know." Blaze hissed back, judging the distance between them and the boat. "But I think I have an idea."

**XxXxXxXx**

Shadow, Silver and Rouge cut through the darkest part of the forest to finally stumble on a small building nearby the main prison walls.

"We can go through there and try to pick up clues on Ginny." Silver suggested.

"I don't think that's necessary." Rouge said.

"Why not?"

"Look in the window." Shadow began making his way closer to the building, ducking behind a tree and watching the scene unfold inside the building.

Ginny had escaped from her bonds, injured. Although that didn't stop her from successfully downing both guards at the door and turning to the last one. But before she could do anything, a cloud of darkness behind her materialized into the double of Shadow.

The group could see him clearly at last. He was perfect in detail to pass off as Shadow except for three major flaws. Where Shadow had red streaks his were a dull blue-gray. His eyes were dark green crisscrossed with different shades of the colour, the pupils slit like a reptile's. And the most shocking of the three differences was he didn't seem to have a mouth.

"That's the guy behind this, all right." Silver whispered, mostly to himself.

They watched as the double wrapped a hand around Ginny's mouth, pulling her backwards. A knife conjured out of darkness appeared at his side and he drew it up to her neck.

"Come on!" Shadow jumped out of hiding and threw himself through the window in an explosion of glass. The Mobian guinea pig dressed in gray screamed and managed to dodge the raining shards, staring with a mixture of shock and villainy at the hedgehog in front of her. Rouge and Silver quickly followed, ready to fight the double.

"Well, well, well." The mouthless demon said calmly, smoothly. "I should have known you'd show up eventually. The _doctors_ are waiting for you, Shadow. You've missed your _treatment_." Even though he didn't have lips, his eyes seemed to reflect the cruel smile he would have been giving.

Shadow narrowed his eyes and glared back into those devilish eyes. "I'd sooner die than go back." He spat. "Who are you? And why are you doing this?"

The demon laughed; the cold, cruel sound chilling them all to the bone. "I'm doing this because I must. GUN's weak…I proposed to make it stronger. I'm bringing you down for what you've done." He pressed the knife harder to Ginny's throat, drawing a thin line of blood.

"As for the name…" He continued. "I'm Mephiles. Mephiles the Dark."

**XxXxXxXx**

**Hence the title ****Don't be Afraid of the Dark****. The climax is here! Next chapter to be action packed and awesome!**

**Hasta la Vista, Readers! **

**Lordoftheghostking28**

**XxXxXxXx**


	11. Chapter 10: Hopeless

**CHAPTER 10**

"Go!" Blaze hissed.

Knuckles ran as far back into the forest as he dared and slammed both fists into a small tree, bringing it down with a surprisingly loud _CRASH_! Blaze ducked further into the cover of a bush as the soldiers standing on the pier ran past her to find the source of the noise. She then ran at one of the search towers, climbing up the ladder at speeds that would put cheetahs to shame.

The guards didn't know what hit them and soon found themselves in the water thirty feet down.

Knuckles ran from the forest to the next closest watch tower, downing the guards inside it as easily has the ones in the woods. That left the final tower, whose occupants seemed to realize what was going on. Bullets bounced off the watchtowers, shattering the small panes of glass. The tower that Knuckles was in was threatening to collapse, forcing him to leave it and run to Blaze's.

"This wasn't suppost to happen…" Knuckles muttered as the firing finally ceased.

"Well, we just have to work with it." Blaze conjured a small flame in her hand, standing up briefly and throwing it at the other tower. It was damp from the ocean spray, so the fire just fizzled out on contact. The shooting began again.

"They'll run out of bullets." Knuckles said, mostly to himself.

"Yeah, and what happens when they call for backup?" Blaze hissed.

"Hopefully they'll have run out of bullets by then." Knuckles muttered.

**XxXxXxXx**

Shadow lunged for the demon, stopping suddenly when his opponent turned the blade on him. "I wouldn't do that if I were you." Mephiles warned, still keeping a tight grip on Ginny.

Rouge jumped forward, knocking the knife out of his hand expertly and countering with a chokehold. Mephiles released Ginny, who fell to the ground and coughed. Silver helped her stand.

"Do you really think this is all it will take to defeat me?" Mephiles laughed, staring into Rouge's eyes. "Do you really think someone as powerful as me can be defeated this easily?"

With surprising speed, he had clamped his hands around Rouge's throat and was lifting her into the air. She lost her grip on him and began clawing at his hands, unable to get the demon to release her.

"Rouge!" Silver shouted, running towards her.

Something caught him around the ankle, pulling him to the ground. "No!" Bandit hissed. "She will die!"

Shadow had finally lunged at Mephiles, tackling him backwards. The two began to fight viciously, punches that could break normal bones fired back and fourth. Rouge stood, still unsteady, to see a squadron of GUN soldiers come running from the woods into the broken windows.

"_FREEZE!_"

Ginny spun around, fist at the ready. The nearest soldier simply deflected her attack, knocking her to the ground with his rifle. He handcuffed her and forced her to her feet.

"Come with me."

Guns were leveled at Silver's head and he too was forced to cooperate. Rouge stood her ground and fought back, earning her a hard blow across her forehead. She fell unconscious, but the guards cuffed her anyway.

"Let me go!" Ginny spat. "You filth! How can you live with yourselves? How much did they offer you to destroy the 'weak' soldiers and take their places?"

They had no answer, simply standing at attention and waiting for orders.

Bandit stood, brushing invisible dust from her suit. "Take them away. But you three …stay. I think you're to be needed when the Ultimate Life Form is brought down."

Silver, Rouge and Ginny were dragged off, despite the stream of profanity and threats that left Ginny's mouth. Bandit turned to Mephiles and Shadow, both of them still viciously tearing at each other.

"End it, Mephiles. We need to get out of here." Bandit commanded.

Mephiles nodded slightly, dodging Shadow's punch and grabbing his arm, twisting it sharply behind his back until he dropped to his knees. He landed a hard blow to the middle of the hedgehog's back and something snapped internally. Shadow still fought, his other arm, whipping around and catching Mephiles on the side of the head. That bought him a second of recovery and the element of surprise. Shadow wrenched away from the demon, panting and gripping at his dislocated arm. His back was to Bandit, and the guinea pig quickly slammed both fists over his head, knocking him to the ground…unconscious.

"I could have handled him." Mephiles growled, kicking Shadow onto his back.

"That needed to be ended. Come on, bring him." Bandit made her way to the door.

**XxXxXxXx**

"Looks like they're not running out of bullets, Knuckles!" Blaze hissed as another ear-shattering hail of bullets threatened to tear apart the watchtower.

"There's nothing we can do!" Knuckles shouted back.

"Well, if we don't do something soon…" Blaze trailed off as the shots ceased and a loud cry that sounded like it originated from the forest took its place. She turned to Knuckles in horror, muttering, "They've got Tails. And Sonic too, no doubt."

No sooner had she said that then a loud voice echoed around the watchtower, "You in there! Surrender at once and your friends will be spared! This is your only warning!"

"We'll decide what to do later. We've been in tougher situations." Knuckles said out loud, mostly to himself. "But something tells me these guys are serious. Come on, Blaze."

"Knuckles! They might not know that there's more than one person in the tower! You stay here…I'll go with them. That way, you'll be under the radar and able to steal the boat." Blaze said.

"But-"

"If it doesn't work, they'll find you anyway. We've got to try this."

Knuckles nodded and hid himself among some of the debris, watching as Blaze left the tower to join the guards. They asked her something, probably involving any other rescuers, and then lead her, Sonic and Tails away roughly.

Knuckles turned his attention to the boat and began to devise a plan when his gaze settled on a GUN guard's helmet on the floor.

**XxXxXxXx**

The light was blinding even through his eyelids. Shadow forced himself to squint into the light, trying to find where it began and ended. He was lying on something hard…a table. Thick restraints were wrapped around his limbs, preventing him from moving. His arm was dislocated…no doubt about that.

A horrifying image flashed back into his mind from the other prison…the 'doctors' in their light blue-green scrubs and masks covering their faces. The only thing he had ever seen of their faces were their eyes; cold and merciless as their knifes sunk into his flesh, ripping and tearing and causing unimaginable agony…

Shadow drew in a deep breath and forced himself to block out the memories. He could feel the deepest scars on his back, the ones that spelled out 'DISGRACE', as though they were being cut open again.

"I'm imagining you're remembering the Torture Chamber?"

Shadow quickly turned his head in the direction of the voice, squinting as hard as he could to try to find the speaker. The lights dimmed slightly and he made out the form of his double, green lizard-like eyes laughing.

"Oh, don't worry. You won't relive that again," Mephiles began to slowly walk around the table. "That was barbaric. You could have died a thousand times when you were still needed alive. No, rest assured this place isn't like the last."

He leaned towards Shadow's right ear, whispering in a deadly voice, "This place is even better."

His voice sent chills darting down Shadow's spine. He pulled at his restraints, his dislocated arm sending bolts of pain through his body…but that was a small price to pay for possibly finding any weak spots on the table. "_Let me go_!"

"I have no intention to." Mephiles laughed. He held something up above his prisoner.

Shadow squinted at the object only to realize it was a syringe with a rather blunt needle, filled with some sickly green liquid. Before he could do anything, the needle's point was imbedded in the center of the white patch of fur on his chest, a feeling of being frozen spread throughout his body from the liquid as the plunger depressed. It was as though his blood were replaced with ice water…

Shadow gave a choked gasp as his muscles tensed up, restricting his breathing and making him spasm at random times. Every beat of his heart was accompanied by a crushing pain that spread along his nerves, seeming to freeze as well as burn his insides. He clenched his eyes shut and stifled a ragged scream that would have surely left him if he were not drawing blood from his tongue with his teeth.

Just as quickly as it had came…the pain left. Shadow was left gasping for breath and shaking uncontrollably, the metallic taste of blood in his mouth almost overwhelming. He coughed a few times off to the side, the pain and fear so close that he nearly surrendered. The only thing that kept him from doing that were the others. They would still need him. They needed to get off the island. If Shadow could keep Mephiles busy...they might just have that chance.

He became vaguely aware of a scientist nearby, studying the effects of the poison. He wrote something down before turning to a group of people near the back. Shadow couldn't hear what they were saying…he couldn't hear anything at all. He could only see the cold hatred in their eyes that burned nearly as bad as the poison. He swallowed the gathering blood in his mouth and struggled to make sense of what they were saying.

"Give him another dose," The first scientist said, filling the syringe with the poison and handing it back to Mephiles.

He laughed as he approached Shadow, letting the syringe catch the blinding light. "Let this be equivalent to the pain you caused the millions on board the ARK." His deadly green eyes that were almost the exact shade of the poison flashed as he dug the dull needle into Shadow's neck.

**XxXxXxXx**

"There should be one more of you!" Bandit growled at the group in front of her.

"Who?" Tails asked innocently. He, Sonic, Ginny, Blaze, Silver and Rouge were all sitting in simple wooden chairs, hands cuffed behind their backs and GUN soldiers standing behind them.

"One more…where is he?" Bandit hissed.

"I don't know who you're talking about. Unless you mean Shadow…" Silver trailed off as a loud cry tore through the room, seeming dangerously close to them.

"If you continue to play this foolish game there won't _be_ a Shadow." Bandit growled. "Believe me when I say that the soldiers and scientists back there know how to deal pain."

"There isn't another!" Blaze protested. "It's just us! Can't you just listen for once? Let Shadow go!"

"That's not up to me."

No one spoke for a long while. Bandit nodded at the soldiers in the back, and they left without a second's hesitation. "Now…I need you to listen to _me_. Mephiles…the guy who looks like Shadow…will go to any means to break the Ultimate Life Form. And I guarantee by the time he's done with him…he'll be a whole different being. If you want to stop this before it happens, I recommend telling me where the other is!"

A feral scream of complete agony ripped through the silence, making Tails jump and tears form in the corners of his eyes. "S…Shadow…?!"

"There is no 'other', Bandit!" Ginny shouted. "You have to believe us! There never was, and never will be! It's only us! Call off Mephiles! What do you want?"

Bandit didn't say anything. She just held eye contact with the other guinea pig. "You wouldn't believe me." she said almost inaudibly.

"_What do you mean_?" Ginny screeched.

"The GUN soldiers aren't planning on letting you go anytime soon. They want to keep you here on the island to experiment on you…to torture you until you no longer know yourselves. I want…" She trailed off. "I want to help you. I know I'm some of the reason that GUN is like this today…but they've gone too far. Killing off the people they saw as weak? No…that was barbaric. And when they brought Mephiles into this…that crossed the line."

She drew a ring of keys from her pocket and freed the group. "I can help get you off the island. But after that…you're on your own."

"Shadow too?" Silver demanded.

Bandit drew in a deep breath. "No. He's your escape ticket. You'll have to leave him behind."

**XxXxXxXx**

**Good Chaos, you guys. I'm not having a very good summer.**

**According to unconfirmed sources—like my dad— some idiot hit my neighbor's cat, Paul. Well…he wasn't really their cat, in my eyes. The poor thing was so underfed and neglected. He usually came in our yard and I'd hang out with him for a while...**

**Why are all my animal friends **_**dying**_**?! They're actually some of the only friends I'll ever have…**

**Well…keep up with the story, guys.**

**Hasta la Vista, Readers.**

**Lordoftheghostking28**


	12. Chapter 11: Burned

** CHAPTER 11**

It would have to do.

Knuckles used a piece of broken glass as a mirror to see how his handiwork had turned out. The only intact piece of his disguise was the helmet, but hopefully in the dim lights he wouldn't be spotted. He had found a small chest filled with a random assortment of uniform parts, and after a few minuets had something that vaguely resembled the GUN uniform.

He dropped the visor low over his eyes and stood, an empty rifle leaning against his shoulder. If someone was to fire at him, he wouldn't have anything to fire back. He carefully climbed down the tower and walked stiffly along the pier, like the other soldiers had. Most of them were still scouring the woods, trying to pick up clues on any other rescuers. But a few had returned to the watchtower nearby.

The boat Knuckles was planning to steal was armored; it would probably withstand normal rifle shots. It had a small cabin on deck for the captain, and another door set in the back for below deck. It was perfect as an escape vehicle…the only probablem would be taking it unnoticed and finding the others before something happened.

**XxXxXxXx**

Shadow shuddered weakly. Mephiles had given him four doses of the poison, and it was beginning to take its toll. His vision was blurring and he couldn't hear anything over the ringing in his ears. He felt as through unnecessary pressure was being put on his chest, preventing him from drawing in a deep breath. Everything was so bright…like looking at the sun…

Another needle broke the skin on his upper arm, more alien liquid seeping into his bloodstream. Shadow prepared for more pain, more agonizing torture.

Mephiles laughed as his prisoner pulled at the restraints, mouth open in a silent scream. Shadow finally found his voice and a surprisingly long and loud cry left him, seeming to take all the energy he had with it. He began to lie still, save the occasional twitch of an arm or leg.

"Five injections to finally get him to this point," A scientist reported. "A normal human or animal would break around half a dose. He really is the Ultimate Life Form."

"Oh, he's not giving up yet." Mephiles said. "He still has some fight left. Leave him to me."

The scientist cast a nervous glance from his colleagues to the floor before saying, "Yes…_sir_."

He was scared of him. Mephiles knew it, and he took pride in it. The whole of GUN feared him…they were right to. The ones that had seen what he could do always respected him in fear of the same fate ending their lives. Mephiles slowly approached the table, putting a slight pressure on Shadow's dislocated arm.

GUN's prisoner twitched, throwing his head from side to side and gritting his teeth together in pain. His uninjured hand clenched, the other unable to move much. "See, Shadow? We've won." Mephiles hissed.

Shadow's eyes opened slightly and he managed to spit out, "No….you never will…not while we're…opposing you…"

"And who's this '_we_'?" Mephiles growled, eyes seeming to bore through Shadow's head. He pressed down harder on his arm.

Shadow managed to stifle a shout and hissed between clenched teeth, "The… _world_…"

"Then we will overthrow it. No matter how many stand in our way; they will be destroyed. We will kill them all unless they acknowledge that we are the only force to be recognized in this foolish world. And we'll start with you." Mephiles conjured a knife out of the darkness that made him and held it close to Shadow's face. "Recognize this?"

Shadow did. It was the knife that had nearly killed him before. Back at the other prison. The same greenish-gray handle that was now stained a sickly colour from his dried blood. The same blade that needed constant sharpening…

Shadow could do nothing but scream as the blade sank into his chest.

_ It was just like before…the same living hell…_

"Did you ever wonder who carved the word into your back?" Mephiles laughed as his prisoner's blood began to stain the knife once again. Shadow couldn't answer…he could barely even hear again.

Mephiles twisted the knife slightly and drew it out sharply, wrenching another scream from Shadow. He only laughed, cleaning the blade with his index finger before imbedding it in Shadow's chest again. "It was_ me_."

** XxXxXxXx**

Ginny finished wiring the device into the wall while Bandit was kept busy with Rouge and Silver, who were angrily yelling protests.

"We can't just leave him! Do you not hear that? He's_ dying_!" Silver shouted. "And besides, after all he's done for GUN? For the _world_?! And you say there isn't a chance we can save him?!"

"We have to." Bandit sighed. "He'll buy you enough time to escape."

"That is the biggest load of bullshit I've ever heard," Rouge hissed.

"And yet it's the truth!" Bandit protested. "If we're going to get you out of here now, we have to go!"

Blaze supported Sonic as they made their way quickly to the door, entering into the dark forest. "Blaze…we have to save Shadow." Sonic said. "I can help."

"We need to get you to a hospital as soon as we can. There's no way you're helping anyone in that condition!" Blaze said.

"The Chaos Emerald…I …I can use it to heal my ankle!"

Before Blaze could respond, there was a loud command of, "_FREEZE!_" Flashlight beams split the air as they were surrounded by a huge squadron of soldiers, rifles at the ready.

"ATTACK!" Ginny commanded, downing a soldier in a flash.

Blaze dragged Sonic away from the battle, handing him the Emerald. "I don't care what you do with it, just don't get killed." With that, she threw a swirling vortex of fire at a soldier, igniting his uniform and sending him running, screaming, through the forest to the water. A nearby tree caught, flames darting up its trunk and spreading to the leaves of the other trees. The battlefield was lit up a bit more.

Sonic downed a soldier with the sheer power of the Emerald and was about to use it to heal himself when a thought forced itself in his mind: Shadow would need the Emerald a lot more than he would.

Sonic gritted his teeth together and hissed, "Damn, this is going to hurt," before painstakingly crawling along the forest floor back towards the building.

Explosions and screams of pain sounded behind him, but he dared not glance back for fear of finding it was one of his friends. The pain in his leg threatened to knock him out, causing him to collapse on his side for a moment, taking in deep breaths until the feeling passed. He had made it to the door, where—quite surprisingly—no soldiers were. He stood using the door handle and managed to hop his way in, every movement grinding his broken bones together.

A scream sounded from the back room. This one a lot weaker than the ones he had heard previously. "Come on, Shadow…I'm almost there…" Sonic muttered, forcing himself to keep moving.

** XxXxXxXx**

Knuckles saw it, but almost refused to believe it. Gunshots were ringing out over the island, followed by the flicker of fire and dark clouds of smoke darker than the cover of night. He heard a shout that could be none other than Silver…it was now or never.

Knuckles ran at the boat, throwing himself over the side of the pier and barely managing to climb into the boat. A soldier in the nearest watchtower shouted, "HEY!" A bullet bounced off the boat's armor inches away from his head.

He fell over the side and scrambled up, running into the small cabin that housed the controls over the boat. With a few presses of a button and a couple turns of a knob, it was up and running. Knuckles glanced up to see at least fifty soldiers running down the pier, guns at the ready. He threw the boat in reverse and backed away from the pier sharply, ripping away the ropes that kept it bound there. That done, he turned and threw it in forward, speeding towards where the fire and smoke were thickest.

** XxXxXxXx**

Sonic had finally managed to reach the door that Shadow was behind. He fumbled with the handle, vision fuzzy from the fierce pain in his leg. It opened, sending him falling forward onto a cold floor. There was a shout and two strong hands hauled him to his feet. Sonic tried to stand, but between his broken ankle and his weak state, he slumped back to the ground, struggling to stay conscious. He was supported between two strong people again.

What actually kept him from giving in to the sleep was the cold laughter that split the air. Sonic pushed himself up slightly to come face to face with devilish eyes. Adrenaline shot through him, giving him enough power to kick with his good leg at the threat. But much to his panic, his foot went _through_ Shadow's double…Mephiles.

"You won't be able to stop me like that." Mephiles sneered. Sonic caught sight of the bloodied knife he held and then the still, dark form in the back of the room, strapped to an operating table. Mephiles followed his gaze and said, "Oh yes…My prisoner is slowly bleeding out. I believe you can be next."

Sonic wrenched his right arm away from one of the scientists supporting him and managed to grab the Emerald from his quills, the light it produced making Mephiles stumble backwards and shield his eyes. In a flash Sonic could not explain, the scientists all slumped to the ground, unconscious but otherwise unharmed. Mephiles was thrown backwards , striking the wall and sliding down it limply. The knife he was holding became jammed in his ribs.

"Wh…What…?" The demon managed to say before life left him completely. He became nothing more than darkness, the knife clattering to the ground.

"Shadow!" Sonic shouted, falling to the ground and struggling as fast as he could over to the operating table. "Shadow! Can you hear me?"

Shadow didn't react in the slightest. More incisions had been opened on his body, old scars torn open and left to bleed out. Sonic, with the Emerald in hand, traced the worst of the wounds with two fingers, watching satisfied as they healed before his eyes.

"Shadow! Say something! Anything!" Sonic pleaded, unlatching the restraints. "_Anything_!"

Shadow drew in a shuddering breath at his shout, but didn't say or do anything else. Sonic wrapped the Emerald in his hand, hoping that it would do anything to revive him. A soft glow spread from the jewel and targeted Shadow's internal injuries, the energy from it changing colour every few seconds. Shadow sat up suddenly, gasping for breath and staring around the room as though ready to be attacked.

"Oh, good." Sonic muttered. "You're alive. We need to get out of here…the forest's on fire and we're sort of under attack."

Shadow gripped at his arm, pain still lingering on his face. "My arm's dislocated. And I don't think the Emerald has enough power to heal it." He glanced at the Emerald, where its normal bright light was dimmed considerably.

"I can take care of that." Sonic promised, forcing himself to stand. He wrapped a hand around Shadow's upper arm and put his other on his shoulder. "This is going to hurt…but it's going to be worth it."

Shadow gritted his teeth as Sonic forced his arm back in place with a loud _pop_. He could move his fingers again, at least. He stood from the table and said, "If what you say is true, then we need to get moving."

"Shadow, I can't walk as fast as you can…my ankle's broken." Sonic stumbled and fell, catching himself on the operating table and attempting to stand again.

"Dammit, why did you use the Emerald on _me_, then? You're the fastest one here!" Shadow growled, going back over to Sonic and helping him to the door. "You're useless to us!"

"You're welcome I saved you," Sonic muttered.

They had just reached the door when a voice behind them commanded, "Stop!"

Both hedgehogs turned to see a dark shadow begin to move, taking a shape as it went. Mephiles hadn't died from the blade…but he had changed; almost like a regeneration.

A crystal-like substance seemed to coat him, as though glass had formed over his quills and limbs. The white of his eyes was now a fierce pink, his irises still their disturbing green. His muzzle had changed dramatically, he was now lacking both a visible mouth and nose.

"You won't leave here alive!" he roared, rushing at them with amazing speed. Shadow dropped Sonic and dodged to the side, turning Mephiles' attention away from the injured other. Shadow threw Chaos Spears, all his attacks landing but not seeming to do any damage. Mephiles swung a fist riddled with an unknown energy at him, knocking him through the wall into the other room. Shadow struggled to his feet, nearly collapsing again. As Mephiles resumed his attack.

Sonic managed to crawl into the room they were fighting in, spotting the forest fire through the windows and door. It was dangerously close now…he hoped the others were safe.

That was when one of Shadow's Chaos Spears was deflected. It seemed to fly through the air in slow motion, heading for the already damaged wall. Exposed wires and circuits trailed from a small hole in it. Sonic forgot how to breathe as he remembered Ginny tampering with it earlier…

But it was too late for that. As the Spear entered it, there was a terrific explosion, tearing the building apart and raining debris over the burning forest, plaster and other large chunks of the facility downing soldiers everywhere.

And two burned and broken bodies were thrown from the explosion, both of them lying unmoving in the undergrowth.

** XxXxXxXx**

** Originally Blaze was in Knuckles' spot…so if you find a 'she' where there should be a 'he', then please tell me about it and I'll fix it. They were switched roles when I thought about stuff more carefully, and I needed Blaze to light the forest on fire. **

** And OH NOOOOS! ARE SHADOW AND SONIC DEAD?! FIND OUT NEXT CHAPTER!**

** (And hurray! Nothing happened to me these last few days!)**

** Hasta la Vista, Readers!**

** Lordoftheghostking28 **


	13. Chapter 12: Countdown

**CHAPTER 12**

Ginny could only gasp in horror as the main building exploded in a brilliant burst of flame. That had been one in a chain reaction…she had tapped into the self-destruct sequences and devices imbedded in the facility's wall. If one went…the others were close to follow.

Sure enough, another explosion shook the island as a huge fireball threw itself into the sky. Another…and another…

"GET TO THE SHORE!" She screamed. "THE SHORE! _QUICKLY!_"

The group quickly hightailed it to the water, many of the GUN soldiers following them; not to fight, but out of fear. Ginny herself was about to follow them when a hand caught her shoulder.

"Sonic and Shadow! Where are they?" Bandit demanded. Her white fur and gray suit was soot-stained and dark.

"They were…" Ginny trailed off. "Shadow…" she couldn't say it. No way…he had been caught in the first explosion…

"We have to find them." Bandit said, almost calmly.

Ginny could only nod and begin following the other guinea pig through the burned and burning forest, coming to the glowing remains of the first building. They quickly began searching the area, coughing and eyes watering from the smoke.

"They're not here!" Ginny shouted. "Bandit!"

"They have to be!" Bandit responded. She stopped and knelt down, retrieving a jewel that was glowing slightly in the light of the fires.

"A Chaos Emerald…" Ginny whispered to herself. She found herself running towards Bandit and tearing the jewel away from her, holding it out in front of the burning trees and pleading, "Point me in the right way! Track Shadow's Chaos Energy! Anything!"

To her amazement, the jewel began to glow brighter. Ginny turned it to the side, where it dimmed. She brought it back around, and it glowed brighter than the flames surrounding them. She began running in that direction, Bandit right behind her. Only when the jewel became too intense to look at did she lower it and search frantically.

There…in the undergrowth…was that a scrap of blue fur?

Ginny knelt next to it, feeling tears fall down her muzzle as she realized it was more than a scrap of fur…it was Sonic. Burned terribly and most likely dead. But she refused to believe it and lifted him from the hot ground, handing him to Bandit. "Get him to the others! Quickly! I'll be ok!"

Bandit nodded and rushed off. Ginny squinted at the Chaos Emerald and followed its burning light a bit further until she found a gloved hand sticking out of a patch of weeds. She knelt next to Shadow's side, turning him onto his back and searching frantically for a pulse.

There was a creak and crack of wood and the bone jarring crash of a tree nearby. Ginny stood and picked Shadow up in a fireman's carry, trying to find her way out of the forest that was alight with fire. Every direction was the same…every tree duplicated in flames and smoke…

"This way!" Bandit shouted. Ginny saw her outline against the flames and struggled blindly forward, tripping over a fallen log but refusing to drop Shadow. She gritted her teeth and _ran _through the blaze, shutting her eyes. She didn't know if she would make it, but if she did…

Ginny only stopped when her feet met cool sand. She dropped to her knees and pitched forward, Shadow falling from her shoulders and lying limply on the sand. Footsteps were nearby, and then two strong hands were pulling Ginny up onto her back.

"Wh…who?" She asked softly, coughing up soot-stained bile.

"Ginny! It's me, Tails! Come on, Knuckles has the boat! We're getting out of here!"

"But…Bandit… she's in the woods…" Ginny could hardly see. Tails was a smear of yellow and the fire in the background was nothing but orange.

Tails didn't say anything. Ginny stood, forcing herself to focus. Her vision cleared a bit and she began to head back to the woods. "I saw her not a minuet ago! Come on!"

"Ginny…" Tails said. Ginny turned to see his big blue eyes filled with tears. "Ginny…Bandit didn't make it. She went back to find you…everyone saw it…the tree that fell..."

Ginny halted in her tracks as the remembered the tree falling. But…Bandit had called for her after the crash. There was no way…

An explosion bigger than all the others combined knocked Ginny off her feet. The very ground was buckling and threatening to split as the island shook. The final self-destruct sequence.

"GET SHADOW TO THE BOAT!" Ginny cried, tears coming freely. Together, she and Tails managed to make it to the boat, Shadow supported between them. Blaze and Rouge took him below deck and Ginny leaned over the edge of the boat, staring at the island as Knuckles gunned it forward back towards stable land.

"Bandit…" Ginny whispered as the Island exploded in an deafening bang, bits of land showering the boat even at their distance. The fires were extinguished as the island sunk beneath the waves…forever lost.

**XxXxXxXx **

Blaze, Rouge and Silver had found a supply of bandages and healing ointments in a supply closet under deck. They then went to work bandaging and treating Sonic and Shadow's wounds, not stopping once until both hedgehogs were pulled from the brink of death and resting as comfortably as they could on two small couches.

"Will they …live?" Tails asked softly.

"I think they'll pull through. Although…those were some of the most severe burns I've ever seen." Rouge said. "We'll get to mainland and get them treated further there."

Ginny, who was sitting on the bottom step of the cabin, said, "Before I was captured by the corrupted GUN soldiers…I learned that most of their information and recruits were on Prison Island. I think we just crushed the revolution."

"Thank Chaos." Blaze whispered. "I can't imagine the horror or the death that would have resulted in that."

Ginny handed the Chaos Emerald to her. "I've kept this for a while…I almost forgot about it. I don't want nor need it." She headed up above deck.

"Almost forgot about this." Blaze admitted quietly. "After all that…and we still have it. Amazing."

**XxXxXxXx**

**2 MONTHS LATER…**

"…and the rest of the corrupted GUN soldiers were taken away!" Tails finished explaining to Sonic what had happened since the rescue.

"Really? That's a relief…what about Mephiles? Did he go down with the island?"

"We think so… no one's seen or heard of him since. Good thing, too." Ginny smiled sadly. "That guy really scared me."

"How's Shadow doing?" Sonic asked. "I mean, if I ended up like this, he's bound to be a lot worse."

"He's recovering a bit faster than you, actually." Silver said. "Which I suppose is good. He got most of the hit in that explosion."

Sonic just nodded, staring out the hospital window and sighing. "So…Bandit's-"

"Yes." Ginny said curtly. "She died protecting you."

"She died a bit more than just protecting us, I think." Sonic said. "She died a friend…didn't she?"

Ginny stared at the floor, not responding for a long time. "Yes," She whispered. "A friend. The most brave friend I could have ever asked for. Now dead, just like my family."

Silence reigned over the room for a long while, not breaking until Tails said quite timidly, "She died a hero."

**XxXxXxXx**

**This chapter came so close to _killing_ me. I spent five days staring at a bunch of 'XxXxXxXx', trying to end this chapter. And this is what I came up with. My guinea pig, dead in both real life and this story. Also I want to thank my top reviewers, DIM666-Insane Leader and CharlieTheHedgehog! You're awesome!...Oh, and on short notice, Theanimorpherz!**

**Miss ya, Bandit. Hope you have all the celery you can eat. **

**Hasta la Vista, Readers!**

**Lordoftheghostking28**

**BUT WAIT!**

**...one more chapter to go!**


	14. Chapter 13: War! Again!

**CHAPTER 13**

It had been half a year since the Prison Island incident. And once again, Sonic found himself in a bit of a situation…

"Blaze, get your people around to mine! Now!" Sonic shouted.

"I'm working on it!" Blaze growled. "We're under attack here, that's all!"

"I know! I'm working on the traps!" Tails said.

"Dammit, they've got snipers everywhere!" Knuckles added.

"I'm really in trouble here!" Silver squeaked.

"Hold on, I'll cover you…" Shadow muttered.

There was a blast of gunfire on the screen and Knuckles shouted, "Yes! Go, Shadow!"

Sonic laughed and tapped his headset. He was sitting at his house, alone, connected to his friends via the internet and phone lines. "How's the bomb making going, Tails?"

"Pretty ok…I just need more wiring…"

"How you doing, Silver?"

"Pretty good now, Shadow saved my butt." Silver muttered something Sonic didn't quite catch.

"What's that?"

"I said that this game is a lot better now that Shadow's playing with us again."

"You can say that again." Sonic rolled his eyes. He could imagine Shadow smirking as he expertly killed off the opposing team.

"Nothing beats this." Blaze agreed. "Right, Ginny?"

"I _still_ don't know how to reload!" the guinea pig shouted over the headsets.

"Tap 'Z' twice! Come on, that's the first thing you need to know!" Rouge said.

"Well, this sure is a heck of a lot better than my job sometimes, so I'm not complaining." Ginny sighed.

"Hey, after this...wanna meet me at the ice cream shop down on Main Street?" Tails asked.

"Sure! I'll buy for everyone!" Sonic offered.

"Bad idea, Sonic. Knuckles is going to get the most expensive thing on their menu… again." Silver sighed.

"Dude, that was only that one time!" Knuckles protested.

"That thing was like, fifty bucks!"

"Was not! It was twenty two and fifty cents!"

Sonic smiled to himself. These were the days he would always remember…video games, ice cream, friends and jokes. The days that were few but in ways, many.

"Hey, Shadow, I haven't seen Eggman in a while, have you?" Sonic spoke over Knuckles and Silver's arguing.

"Same." Shadow responded.

"What do you say we pay him a visit a bit later? He's got to have a few robots we can destroy for the fun of it. We'll make a contest out of it…the one who destroys the most gets free reign over a Chaos Emerald I have."

"You're on." Shadow said.

**XxXxXxXx**

**THE END…?**

**Well, I guess it's safe to say this was one of my best FanFics. I'm not joking. I loved this one. Mostly because I could write swear words… Kidding. But the whole group here together is really fun to write about. **

**Now that it's over, I guess I have to write my other FanFics. Please leave reviews, I know a few of you are too lazy to review until the end, so the end is here, so REVIEW! YOU CAN'T ESCAPE ME NOW! HAHA!**

**Special thanks to DIM666-Insane Leader, CharlieTheHedgehog, and Theanimorpherz for awesome reviewing on practically every chapter!**

**Hasta la Vista, Readers!**

**Lordoftheghostking28**


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